To End All Wars
by The Threat
Summary: The whole universe is at war. Hundreds of worlds are fighting each other, when they are not fighting against themselves. Can one man put an end to it all?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: none of the characters used here are mine.

Note: this story takes some liberties with both history and the source material. So if you're not a fan of anachronisms or anatopisms, you may not enjoy reading this. Can't say I didn't warn you.

* * *

**SGC, Creek Mountain, Colorado, Earth:**

If one were outside the mountain, they would not be able to hear the blaring alarm that goes on in the facility, located two dozen floors beneath the surface. An alarm that woke an aging general from his anxious thinking in his office.  
"Unscheduled off-world activation," is called through the speakers.  
What is it not now, the General asks himself, as he rises from his seat to leave his office.  
Less than ten steps later, the General has entered the facility's control room. There, his instincts take over, as he looks through the control room's window, where he can look into another, larger room. One where military personnel have already gathered around, armed and ready, pointing their guns in the same direction. That being one huge ring, with nine lights, of which only seven are lit up, but these lights pale in comparison to the light that is produced from what's inside the ring. To the casual observer, it looks like a puddle of water, but to the people who work in this mountain, it's the event horizon of an incoming wormhole, held steady thanks to this large ring. The Stargate.  
"It's SG-1, General," a voice calls to him.  
The General turns his head to who just spoke to him. It's the technician, handling the computers that activate the Stargate from this end, and the same one who called "off-world activation" mere seconds before.  
"Why aren't they coming through the Gate?" the General asks.  
Before the Technician can answer, he raises his hand to his ear. He's hearing something through his ear-piece.  
"They are transmitting a signal," he explains, and just as soon starts pressing a few buttons, so the General can hear it too.  
"Repeat, this is SG-1, calling Stargate Command!" The General recognized the voice he's hearing. It belongs to the leader of the SG-1 team, Colonel O'Neill.  
"Hammond here," the General replied. "What's your status."  
"It's a complete war zone out here!" The tension in O'Neill's voice is obvious. "The Bajorans have only NOW decided to stop being oppressed and started to rebel," a shot of a raygun can be heard, followed by that of a machine gun firing. "We were barely able to make it to the DHD, it's that heavily guarded!"  
That was on odd choice of words on the Colonel's part, the General realizes. The team made it to the DHD, or Dial-Home Device. Why didn't he just say he's at the Stargate?  
"Why aren't you coming through?"  
"We'd love to," the Colonel explains. "But the Cardassians have put the Stargate in the middle of the warzone, while they're keeping the DHD in a heavily guarded building, ten miles away from the Gate."  
A tactic that sounded typical for the Cardassians, the General thinks to himself. By putting the Stargate out in the open, it creates the illusion that anyone can leave if they want to, but by keeping the DHD in a secure location, they are preventing anyone from escaping.  
"Have you tried to ask DS9 for help?" the General asks, hoping that the nearby space station is able to provide any assistance.  
"We tried," O'Neill answers. "But they're overrun by Replicators."  
Suddenly, more laser sounds screech through the speakers. Shots are fired that come from SG-1's weapons. The General hopes to hear his team win this shooting match, but the fight is interrupted by a sudden static.  
"Sir, we lost their signal," the Technician tells the General.  
Even though the General has heard this being said several times before, he never gets used to the sound of that.

**The Death Star, Uncharted Territory:**

Though space stations are made for functionality and efficiency, the one who demanded this station to be built insisted on building a throne room, for when he decides to visit the station. Unfortunately, he did not come to this station for his own pleasure. He had received an invitation, requesting his presence into this part of space. A name was not given with the invitation, but the boldness of the request alone gave him an idea as to who is asking. And one look through his window reveals the arrival of their ships. The configuration of these ships only confirm what he already suspected. He turns to the door to his throne room, awaiting the arrival of this representative he's supposed to meet.  
The wait is long, but he's not surprised. Considering whom he is dealing with, all sorts of precautions have to be taken. They are searched, scanned, repeatedly, making sure they have no weapons, or anything that can harm this man. Sure, even if they do manage to smuggle anything harmful into his throne room, he has abilities that would render their attempts futile. Still, being forced to go through customs like this, helps intimidate his visitors, making them think twice before trying anything foolish. But even if their search is done, it is still quite a distance from the space station's docking area to the throne room.  
Eventually, his visitor arrived. Both look each other up and down. What he sees before him is a female, dressed in black robes, with pale skin that has an odd shade blue to it. The woman in turn looks him up and down. His dresscode is similar to her own, but his natural appearance is that of a frail old man. She has seen old men ruling empires, but this frail looking man can somehow intimidate entire galaxies? She finds that hard to believe.  
"Peacekeeper Commandant Mele-On Grayza," the woman introduces herself. "An honor to finally meet you, Emperor Palpatine."  
The Emperor grins. "Peacekeeper... I always thought the name a misnomer."  
Grayza grins back. "And I thought only Peacekeepers would be so arrogant to build throne rooms in their ships. Looks like you and I are not that different."  
The Emperor looks at her again, but not with his eyes. He has a special sense, which allows him to see what she feels. Most people, even representatives, would shake at the mere sight of him. Or at least feel a little fear of failure. But not this one. He senses her stomach is having trouble digesting the food she had before leaving her ship, but other than that he sensed nothing. As though she's so sure he will give her what she's about to ask.  
"Come closer," he tells her, and she obeys.  
"I have an offer which, in the long run, will benefit both parties," Grayza says as she approaches.  
"That is what your message told me," Emperor Palpatine replies. "But in itself it means very little."  
Grayza lays her hand on her heart. "My apologies."  
Suddenly, Palpatine senses something else. He doesn't know what. There's a sudden change in the atmosphere, but he can't explain how.  
"What I propose," Grayza continues, "is an alliance."  
Palpatine frowns. "An alliance? After all the soldiers that died on both sides. All the resources that have been lost. All the territories. And now the Peacekeepers want an alliance?"  
"Precisely," Grayza smiles, more broadly this time. "We both want the same thing. You want our territory, we want yours. You want to maintain peace over your empire, we want to maintain peace everywhere we can. You have an interest in our technology, we have an interest in yours."  
That last bit makes Palpatine feel elated. Which is odd, as normally this would trigger an alarm inside his head. Why is he feeling so light-headed now?  
"Explain," he says, trying to maintain some control over his faculties.  
"Your Death Star," Grayza says. "It is said it has enough power to destroy entire planets. This is technology that even us Peacekeepers haven't been able to perfect."  
"And from what my sources tell me, you don't need it," Palpatine interrupts. "You have managed to weaponize wormholes."  
"Wormhole weapons are powerful, indeed," Grayza does not deny that. "Too powerful. Our soldiers will only use it when all else fails. Unfortunately, that means we never had to use it, making many of our opponents think we're bluffing. Including our greatest foe, the Scarrans."  
The moment he hears her describe the Scarrans as a dangerous foe, it made him feel a fury like nothing he's ever felt before. Which makes him even more uncomfortable. Normally, he's more in control over his emotions like this. Why is he feeling the most petty things over the most insignificant matters?  
"So we need a new weapon," Grayza continues. "One that's not as powerful as our wormhole weapons, but intimidating enough to let everyone know we are not to be trifled with."  
A bead of sweat ran down Grayza's neck. That's when it hits Palpatine. This woman is secreting some kind of pheromone that's clouding his mind. That is why she was sure he would get what she desired, as she believed he would fall for her feminine wiles.  
"An interesting proposition," Palpatine says. "Allow me to send my reply directly to your superiors."  
Grayza raises a brow. What did he mean by that?  
Mere seconds after saying this, the Emperor raises his hands and flexes his fingers. Before the Peacekeeper Commandant has any time to let what's happening register with her, bursts of lightening shoot from his hands, hitting her.  
The jolt was short, just let it sink in with her. Grayza takes a deep breath, but that was all the time that Palpatine allowed for her. He shoots out more bolts of electricity, more powerful than what he used before. The Commandant can do nothing more but cry in agony as she feels her body burning to a crisp. But, as if this moment wasn't full of surprises already, Grayza feels something happen inside her. Somewhere inside her belly, something is swelling up. And if her knowledge of her own anatomy isn't failing, that something is happening inside her own stomach.  
The Emperor noticed it too. What's more, is that he senses this is new to her as well. He "looks" at her again with his special sense. Earlier he sensed that she had some trouble digesting her food. That food is what's swelling up now. She was fed an explosive substance One that was organic, and therefor wouldn't show up on any scanner.

On board the Peacekeeper vessel, two pair of eyes are watching a holographic display intently. On the display, they can see how the Emperor is igniting the substance in the Commandant's stomach. A substance they themselves had fed her. Unknowingly, so when the Emperor is using his special sense, he wouldn't suspect anything. They watch how he stops electrocuting her, but at that exact moment, the Commandant combusts, and the holographic projector stops showing anything.  
"Our plan worked," one of the two men hisses. Though his body is covered in an isolating suit, his face still reveals his reptillian features. "We now rid the universe of its most incompetent rulers, and ourselves of our masters."  
The other takes a deep breath, and though his breathing is synthetic, it sounds a little more prolonged than usual, as if he is relieved to hear this. "Indeed."  
The first man who spoke turns to his companion. "Now, let us do what we came here for in the first place."  
The second man turns to him too.  
"We came here in the hopes that your Empire would ally with the Peacekeepers. And while our leaders are now gone, that shouldn't stop us from forging the alliance. Don't you agree, Lord Vader?"  
He sticks out his hand to the one he just called Vader. The latter takes the hand and shakes.  
"Agreed, Scorpius."

**The Planetary Alliance, Spaceship Flamel, in orbit around Persephone:**

A small derelict vessel has just been dragged into the docks. Several men in purple uniforms are surrounding the vessel. Though their scans had shown no lifesigns inside, they cannot be too careful.  
Once the Commanding Officer to these men enters the docks, he is being briefed.  
"Commander, Sir," one of the soldiers salutes him.  
The Commander salutes him back. "What's the status?"  
"The ship hasn't moved yet, Sir," is the answer. "Permission to ask a question, Sir."  
The Commander nods.  
"Is all this necessary? Our scans have already revealed there's no one alive inside."  
"You can't be too careful. This," the Commander points to the ship, "Firefly has caused us more trouble than it's worth. Who knows what tricks they have up their sleeves."  
The soldier nods, and leaves his commanding officer.  
An order is given to one of the soldiers to open the ship's gate. The soldier approaches the vessel, presses an emergency button on the outside. A gate at the front is opened, slowly. But as it opens, they see feet at the bottom. So there is something alive inside after all, some are thinking. While others believe otherwise. The feet they see do not belong to people. They're gray, and made of metal. Robots? Likely. Many of the soldiers already began to lower their guns. A big mistake that turns out to be, as when the gate had opened enough to reveal the bodies' upper torsos, they saw the arms carrying guns, which start shooting everyone nearby.  
"Do not resist," the artificial beings call in unison, speaking in a flat and monotonous tone. "You will be upgraded."  
"They're Cybermen!" one of the soldiers shouts, upon which everyone starts barraging their foes with everything they have got.  
Guns are shot, grenades are thrown, but other than denting the Cybermen's outer shell, they don't seem to be too bothered with that the purple-bellied men are doing.

**Soros, Betelgeuse System:**

Flying saucers, large enough to cover an entire city, are hovering over this planet's metropolises. In the center of one of them, something opens up, revealing a huge, green, glowing cannon. Sparks are gathering, as the thing is charging. Suddenly, a ring of fire flies through the air, hitting the saucer. Its cannon stops charging. Small explosions erupt on several spots, as the saucer breaks into two halves. No longer able to stay afloat, the saucer crashes.  
One giant man, tall enough to rival any skyscraper, looks at the remains of the crashed ship. If he was pleased with himself, his giant mask revealed nothing of the sorts. As he looks on, he hears a thundering noise. He turns to look.  
Around him, several more of these giant saucers are closing in on him.  
He anticipated this. He bends his knees, and raises his arms, ready for battle.  
Before anyone can do anything, a bell starts ringing. It's not that of a nearby church, it's the alarm that is built into his suit. He looks down. On his chest, where there usually is a blue light, indicating he's safe, is now a red blinking light, telling him that he won't last much longer in this atmosphere. No matter, he thinks. He knows that he now has these saucers' attention, and thus, he can lure them away from the planet.  
"Shuwatch," he shouts, as he thrusts himself off the ground, and flies into space.  
As he flies, however, he hears tiny buzzing sounds. He looks down.  
Underneath him, several smaller machines are chasing after him.  
He makes a circular movement with his one hand, creating that ring of fire again, and throws it toward these machines.  
While several of them are hit, many more are fast enough to dodge the attack. They start gathering around the flying giant, and fire at will. Normally, a barrage like this would not faze him, but since he's severely weakened, he has little defense against them.  
On the ground, a small group of people are running away from all the carnage in the air. Everyone ducks as a large piece of debris is about to fall on them. To everyone's surprise, a large green light shines over their heads, catching the debris, saving everyone.  
"There!" someone points to where the light comes from.  
As everyone watched, they saw a man, wearing a green costume, a green mask, and a ring on his right hand, from which the light was shot.  
"Fear not! We're here to help!"  
Everyone gasps at the sight of him.  
"A human!" one of them shouts.  
This surprises the green man. He was told there were humans on this planet. His ring shoots out another green light. This one forms a screen, which zooms in on the crowd. Being able to take a closer look, the green man realized why they were so shocked. These aren't humans. They are all hairy, lack noses, and have hands where there should be feet. Monkeys? Are monkeys the dominant species of this planet?  
"The humans are vicious in their actions!" one other shouted.  
"They are the ones who have brought this on us!"  
"Kill that human!"  
All of them charge at the green man. The latter is taken aback at this. He just saved their lives, and yet they see him as their enemy. As he tries to figure out what to do, a large shadow covers him, and the surrounding area.  
The Apes before him noticed this as well. All look up to see what's causing this.  
A huge humanoid body is falling toward them. One that the Green Man recognized too well.  
"Zoffy?!" He can't believe it. These invaders were capable of taking out one of the Ultrapeople?


	2. Chapter 2

**Atlantis, Pegasus Galaxy:**

A table is set. One large enough to sit several people, and close to this building's Stargate, but not too close. Here, one woman in plain white clothes is awaiting the arrival of others. And as the minutes pass by, several start showing up.  
One ship arrives in an orbit around the planet. The woman would have expected this ship to land. But instead, a ray of light appears at the side opposite her. There, a chair has appeared, upon which a humanoid, half her size, gray-skinned, with a large head and black eyes.  
"Greetings, Thor," the woman says.  
The gray being, Thor, nods back. "Melia."  
On the far left of the woman, Melia, a man emerges. This man looks old. Old enough to be leaning on his staff, rather than walking with it.  
"Are we too late?" he asks.  
"No, Barzaa," Melia assured him. "We're still waiting for the others to arrive."  
The old man Barzaa sighs in relief. "Good. I shudder to think what He would have done if we were late."  
Even though everyone present in the room knew who he meant by "He", he proceeded to show them the person he was referring to. From inside his white-and-blue robes, he brings out a small crystal orb, which he places on the table. Inside the orb, a head appears. This head is black, has red horns, with an oddly shaped comb between them, yellow unblinking eyes, and a gray mouthpiece.  
"Welcome to Atlantis, Daizyujin," Melia greets him.  
The head in the orb nods, acknowledging her greeting.  
Next to him, a boll of white light shoots down. This light materialized into a red robot, about the same size as Thor, with a saucer-shaped head, carrying a small disc with him.  
"Aye-aye-aye!" the robot exclaims. "Just a short trip, Zordon said."  
"Speaking of which," Thor says, "did you bring him?"  
"See for yourself," the robot replies.  
He puts the disc down on the table, and within the next second, something egg-shaped starts floating right above it. This egg-shaped thing has eyes, a nose and a mouth.  
"You have done well, Alpha," he says to the robot.  
"Zordon," Daizyujin addresses him, "long time no see."  
"I suspect the same can be said about all of us here," Zordon replies.  
Through the windows of this room, something can be seen coming toward them. At first glance, some might think this is a ship, given its size. But as it comes closer, it looks to have arms, legs, a head, and a cape. Is it a ship that's shaped like a man? Or is it a man that's the size of a ship?  
"I see the Ultra King is arriving as well," Daizyujin remarks.  
Shortly after saying this, the thing visibly shrinks down, so he can enter this room through the window. He bows to them.  
"Good day, everyone," the newcomer, the Ultra King says.  
As soon as that is said, a sound can be heard throughout the room. It is reminiscent of a train that tries to move, but cannot because the brakes are still on. As everyone listens, a golden crate-sized box appears next to the table. Once it is fully materialized, it opens up, revealing a man in gold-and-blue dress, and though he looks the same age as Barzaa, he has one huge and energetic smile on his face, as if he were a child still.  
"Rassilon," Melia says. "I must say, I didn't think the Time Lords would send you of all people."  
He shrugs. "I am still the Lord President of Gallifrey. Besides, the one they intended to send in the first place has gone with the Eternals. He left, feeling embarrassed with us. Or so the note he left tells us."  
As they talk, a ship can be seen, landing on the docks. Whoever it carries will be a while before he arrives. However, on the side of the ship, the letters "S.P.D." are legible, thus everyone has an idea of who this is.  
As they await the arrival of the S.P.D. representative, the Stargate lights up. Seven lights flare up, just before the event horizon form within the Gate. When it does, a red vehicle come rolling into the room. This vehicle looks like a cab-over truck, but everyone in the room knows that that's just the outside. After the Stargate shuts down, the truck's wheels change into legs, arms are formed from the side of the truck, and a head pops out on top. Before everyone, now stands a robot where the truck once stood.  
"Greetings, Optimus Prime," Melia says.  
The robot nods upon hearing his name. "Has everyone arrived yet?"  
Melia shakes her head. "We're still waiting for one of the Nox and Furlings."  
Thor's head sinks down. "I fear I know why they can't come. The Furlings have already fallen, and I lost contact with the Nox a long time ago."  
Everyone is wide-eyed with the revelation. The robot Alpha has barely said the word "aye", and Melia already interrupts him.  
"Safe your opinion about this until everyone has arrived. We're still waiting for a Vulcan rep..."  
As she says the word, a yellow light forms on her right, forming a man with pointed ears, black pants and a blue shirt.  
"Never mind," Melia says. "With Spock here, we're still waiting for one other."  
One minute after saying this, one blue humanoid enters the room, wearing a black robe. This humanoid is recognizable by his long snout, triangular ears, furry skin, and claw-like hands and feet, which would remind many of canines instead of hominids.  
"You're with the Special Police Detectives?" Melia asks him.  
He nods, while taking a small palmtop out of his inside pocket, opening it, revealing his I.D.  
"Commander Doggie Krugger."  
Melia nods. "Everyone, take a seat. There is much to discuss."  
First, Thor repeated what he had already said, for those who have only now entered. This reminded Alpha of what he was about to say.  
"Aye-aye-aye! It's all getting out of hand."  
"Calm down, Alpha," Zordon says. "We're here to put a stop to this."  
"And how do you propose we do this?" Spock raises his eyebrow, enquiringly. "My people have tried to teach everyone the ways of logic, but not enough people respond well to our teachings."  
"Even if you could bring them logic, it would not have helped," Prime says. "Our ancient enemy, the Decepticons, thought it logical to start the war on our homeworld."  
"Not to mention escalation," Rassilon brings up. "You invent a sword, they create a shield. You find a way to penetrate a shield, they start looking for long-range weapons. We, the Time Lords, use time travel, our enemy the Daleks invent their own machines that can do the same. Etcetera, etcetera, and there is no end to it!"  
"The more we try to subdue wars, the worse it becomes," Daizyujin agrees.  
Thor nods. "It is that kind of thinking that allowed my people's enemy to become more menacing. We keep thinking of creating stronger weapons and defenses, but it never occurs to us to invent a weapon that propels small weights of iron and carbon alloys by igniting a powder of potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulfur."  
Melia frowns at the explanation. "That sounds like a weapon that my earliest ancestors would have used."  
"In other words," so the Ultra King reasons, "the more primitive the means, the better it works."  
Pensively, Spock raises his brows. "Am I to conclude, then, that if we are to put an end to these conflicts, we have to resort to more primitive minds?"  
"That is a safe assumption, Spock," Zordon speaks. "But that is also not without risk."  
"I concur," Melia says. "Primitive minds can become obsessed with the more advanced technologies. They are simply not ready to be exposed to such incredible matters."  
"So in other words," Daizyujin concludes, "we need to find someone who is primitive enough to fight, and at the same time restrained enough to not use unknown sciences."  
"Quite the conundrum," Thor realizes. "Where do we find such people."  
"There is one."  
At the sound of that voice, everyone jumps a little. They all turn to the one who spoke. It was Commander Krugger, of whom they only now realize that other than saying his name, he hadn't said a word.  
Melia nods. "Please elaborate."  
"A few years ago," Krugger answers, "there was couple, back on Earth."  
Everyone gasps at the sound of that name.  
"Earth?" the Ultra King questions. "The most dangerous planet in the whole universe? That Earth?"  
"The same planet that even Martians fear?" Rassilon asks  
"The very same." Krugger sighs, admitting this. "It is so dangerous, even this couple didn't want to live there."  
Everyone exchanges a frown. Krugger takes this as his cue to continue. "They tried to escape the conflicts of their own planet. But, of course, the M.I.B. wouldn't give permits to just anybody. Especially not these two."  
"How so?" Zordon wonders.  
As an answer, Krugger takes out his little palmtop device. From it, he projected the holographic image of one pale, Caucasian, red-headed woman, who looks to be in her thirties.  
"One was a doctor, who's been convicted of practicing without a license," Krugger explains. "Although, even her practices were of a questionable nature."  
His finger slides over a button on his palmtop, changing the image into a slightly darker-skinned, Asian, black-haired male, who looks the same age as the woman.  
"The other," Krugger continues, "is said to be an expert in hand-to-hand combats, but is unfortunately emotionally unstable."  
"And... these M.I.B. people, who are they?" Thor asks.  
"They are Earth's interplanetary immigration services," Krugger replies.  
"In other words, the ones who decided who may and who may not leave the planet," given the tone in his voice, Spock seems to understand this only too well.  
"And they were not allowed to leave?" Daizyujin tries to bring the conversation back on track.  
"They were not," Krugger confirms. "Of course they protested against the decision, but to no avail."  
Krugger shuts down his palmtop, and puts it back in his pocket before continuing.  
"At the same time, S.P.D. was too busy protecting itself from the Earthlings. After all, we are an agency that's supposed to protect the planet from invaders. Not to meddle with the planet's politics. Which of course the Earthlings didn't like, so they started to see us as their enemy. Causing new conflicts, which this couple took advantage of, as they manage to steal an F-302 vessel right under our noses, which they used to enter the Crichton Bridge, hurling themselves to the other side of the universe. They were followed of course, but upon arriving at the site, we were overrun by the Judoon."  
Melia scoffs. "An unstoppable force meets an unmovable object."  
Krugger nods. "We were too distracted to defend themselves against them, the F-302 we followed slipped past the Judoon ships. And that is where we lost track of them."  
Rassilon smiles. "Well then, why don't you ask the Judoon if they can help you find them."  
"We tried," Krugger replies. "But they don't recognize our authority. But even if they did, last we heard they were seen trying to break up a fight between the Yautja and the Hirogen."  
"The universe's predators?" The Ultra King sees the problem. "They're not too friendly with anyone who interferes."  
Krugger nods. "They lost a lot of men, just to break up a fight between two individuals. One of each species."  
"So there are very few Judoon left alive to question," Melia realizes. "Much less willing to answer any questions."  
"We have received some unconfirmed reports, though," Krugger continues, "about a couple fitting their description. They broke into the Space Museum, and stole one of their ships."  
To show what he's talking about, Krugger allows his palmtop to project an image of said ship. It is black, has a yellow dog-like head on top of it, and the ship's nose is red with spider-web motif.  
"The Marveller?" Prime is astonished to see this. "If they are the same people, they knew their ships."  
"It doesn't surprise me," Krugger admitted. "The Marveller has been used to resolve a conflict on Earth in the past."  
"Perhaps," Thor begins, pointing to Rassilon's box as he speaks, "we can use Rassilon's TARDIS to go back to a point in time before the ship was stolen."  
Rassilon violently shakes his head. "We cannot do that! Our laws forbid such things!"  
"Your laws forbid you from interfering," Daizyujin remarks. "And yet here you are."  
"Clearly, exceptions can be made," Prime says.  
"Even so," Rassilon adds, "I cannot break the rules without approval from the High Council. And that can take a while."  
Melia smiles. "If a council of the universe's oldest and wisest races decide this is the best course of action, would that not carry some weight?"  
Rassilon has no reply at the ready for this.


	3. Chapter 3

**Location Unknown:**

Kneeling down, in the middle of an open meadow, we find a man in a black kimono, his hands clasped together as he meditates. Slowly, he rises from the ground, his eyes still closed. He stretches out his arms, at such a slow pace, as though he's careful not to hit the air. That's when he completely disregards the air around him, and starts throwing punches. Though there is no one, or nothing, for him to hit, in his head, he is imagining opponents trying to hit him from all sides. He punches before him, kicks behind him, spins around his own axis to dodge possible attacks, slashes his flat hand through the air... stopping mid-way.  
He opens his eyes. He can see that within an inch from his hand, is his wife's neck. While anyone else would have ducked and screamed as they see his hand closing in, she did not. In fact she started smiling the moment he opened his eyes.  
"Sure you don't want to take a break now?"  
He sighs. "You know that I can't take a rest. If I slack off on my training..."  
"You'd be weak," she interrupts. "I know. But if you overexert yourself, your body will fail on you before you know it."  
"Maybe," he shrugs. "Good thing I married a doctor then."  
"I may help you, if you get wounded," she replies. "But I cannot help you when your muscles break. I don't have the resources for that."  
He opens his mouth to reply, just when he senses a tremor. He looks at his feet.  
"You felt that too?" he hears his wife ask.  
Another tremor, heavier this time.  
"Whatever this is, it's getting closer," he thinks out loud, just as the ground starts to shake heavier. So heavy this time, both of them had trouble keeping balanced.  
"I think you're right," she replies, and points into the sky. "Look."  
He turns his head toward where she's pointing.  
Behind him, there are what at first glance look like two apartment buildings. He immediately dismissed them as such. Not only because there are no buildings on this planet, but also because buildings aren't usually made to look like a smilodon, or a torosaurus, as is the case with these. He looks up, and finds that at the top, the two connect to something red, with two black shapes hanging on its sides. Those weren't buildings, those were legs. He's looking at one huge body, belonging to a mechanical being, which has horns on its head, and a faceplate covering its mouth.  
"So here are you two," the giant being spoke.  
She widens her eyes at this. "It talks?"  
"Yes," the giant replied. " 'It' talks."  
It moves closer to them, while the two tiny humans take steps backwards.  
The woman pulls up her sleeve, revealing a tiny wrist device. She opens it, and shouts at it. "Marveller!"  
To the giant's own surprise, a ship, roughly the same size as he, comes flying up. Before the giant can say or do anything, the ship fires at him. The best the giant can do is cover his head against the attack.  
This way, he is too distracted to see a tiny flying vehicle leave the Marveller, going down to the married couple, who climb on board the vehicle, which then transports them inside the ship.

It doesn't take long before the two are in the ship's cockpit. There, the man turns a knob, causing the ship to make a whirring sound.  
"Change, Leopardon," he whispers to himself.

Outside, the giant being feels that the ship had stopped firing at him. He lowers his arms, only to see it changing form. The ship's backside becomes legs, arms form on the ship's side, the nose bows down, allowing a red head with a yellow V-shape on its forehead to pop out.  
"Leopardon," the giant being speaks. "At last we meet."

Inside the cockpit, the married couple frowns at what they just heard.  
"How does he know the name of the robot?" he questions.  
She shrugs. "Its reputation must precede him."  
That said, she raises her wrist device, and speaks into it.

Outside, he voice can he heard, speaking through Leopardon. "Who are you?"  
The giant being takes a few steps closer as he speaks. "I am Daizyujin. I am..."  
Leopardon's right hand sinks down, reaching for something Daizyujin cannot see, and when the arm reaches up again, it's holding a sword.  
"Take one step closer, and we'll be forced to use this," that same voice sounds again.  
As a response, Daizyujin looks up into the sky. There, a sliver of silver light comes raining down toward him. As soon as it's within range, he catches the silver light, and holds it in front of himself, revealing it to be a large sword.  
"I did not come here for battle," he says. "But should you wish to engage, I am ready to defend myself."  
Leopardon, or rather the voice speaking for it, doesn't reply. Instead, he slams Daizyujin's sword with his own blade.  
Daizyujin had warned them. They didn't listen. He swings his sword, but Leopardon blocks it with his own sword. One swift spin, pushes his opponent's blade down. Daizyujin uses his one free hand to punch Leopardon's chest. Sparks fly, and Leopardon steps backward. The V-shape on his head lights up, and starts flying toward Daizyujin like a boomerang. The latter starts swaying at it with his sword, momentarily distracting him long enough. Leopardon slashes Daizyujin's back. This, he obviously felt, as he falls down to his knees.

The married couple looks this situation over. "Think he's had enough?"  
Before an answer can be given, something catches their eyes. On Daizyujin's shoulder, where there was nothing at first, something materializes. At this distance, they can't make out what it is. At best, it looks like a black square. But they notice how the giant's head turns to it, nods every now and again, as if he were talking to the thing on his shoulder. Daizyujin turns his head away, when the black thing disappears. But as it disappears, something else appears inside their own cockpit. Accompanying the appearance, is a moaning sound, as though it seems to try and be born into the observable reality, causing them to turn around to see what's happening.  
"What... is... going... on?" Neither of them have an answer to this question.  
In their cockpit is a gray cylinder. As they watch it, one side of it opened up, as though it has a door. In reflex, the man raises his fists, but his wife places a hand on his shoulder, shaking her head.  
"Don't be too hasty," she says.  
From behind the door, a red robot comes out.  
"Hey dude, dudette," is says.  
The man already lowers his fists. "Hardly worth the trouble."  
"Sorry about the sudden entrance," he makes a bow. "I am Alpha 5."  
The woman snorts. "Well then, mister Five. Do you have a reason for breaking and entering?"  
"Breaking?" Alpha is shocked to be accused of this. "I didn't break anything!"  
"Alpha," a voice sounded from inside the cylinder. "Tell them what I just told Daizyujin."  
Hearing that voice speak, does not help their situation. So that black spot they saw on the giant robot's soldier, that is what is now in their cockpit? How did it get there so fast?  
"Oh, right. Aye-aye-aye," Alpha mutters. "Please follow me inside."  
Alpha turns around, and re-enters the cylinder. The married couple exchanges looks. They nod to each other, and follow the robot.

The inside of the cylinder makes their heads toll. Considering the size of the cylinder, you would think there'd be barely enough room to fit all three of them. And the voice indicated there is a fourth one. And yet, as they stepped inside, they found themselves in a hall, large enough to fit Leopardon's head, twice.  
"Greetings, friends."  
So amazed by this room, the two hadn't even noticed a glass tube at the far end of the hall. In it, a large head is floating.  
"Are we hallucinating all this?" the man asks his wife.  
She raises her shoulders. "I'm not a psychiatrist, but it is possible that the horrors of the wars on Earth could be getting to us."  
"Even after several years of being away?"  
"Like I said, I'm not an expert."  
"I can assure you," the floating head speaks again, "you are not hallucinating. This is a TARDIS. It's made to be bigger on the inside."  
The man rushes forward, not in the least bit intimidated by the floating head. "Who are you? What do you want from us? Who was that giant robot outside?"  
"Aye-aye-aye!" Alpha exclaims. "Please stay calm!"  
"It's all right, Alpha," the floating head says. "We have just disturbed their peace. We do owe them an explanation."  
The woman scoffs. "It better be a good one."  
"I am Zordon," the flying head says, turning to the man. "Are you Chen Zhen?"  
The man does not respond in any way.  
Zordon turns to the woman. "Are you Mary Mason?"  
"What if we are?" the woman responds, crossing her arms.  
"Good," Zordon says. "Because we have a mission for you."  
"What makes you think we are interested in any mission of yours?" then man, Chen questions.  
"And how did you find us, anyway?" Mary asks.  
"You have my friend, Daizyujin, to thank for that," Zordon explains.  
"Dai..." Mary remembers. "Isn't that what the giant called himself?"  
Chen nods.  
"Before you two stole the Marveller from the museum," Zordon replied, "he had placed a ruby inside it, which is tuned into his powers. Thus, should this ship ever get lost, he would be able to find it."  
"You what?!" Chen raises his voice.  
Zordon shakes his head. "You may think what you will of my methods, but it was necessary."  
"What for!" Chen didn't ask this.  
"From what I have been told, you two fled your home planet to escape its escalating conflicts," Zordon continues. "But if you thought Earth was bad, the rest of the universe isn't much better."  
Chen shrugs. "Looks peaceful to me."  
"Only because you're on a planet where there are only trees," Zordon points out. "If you spend more time in more inhabited areas, you would have seen how dire the situation is."  
Another shrug from Chen. "And why should that matter to us?"  
Zordon's eyes widen. "All across the universe, people are suffering and dying."  
"WE were suffering and almost died back on Earth," Chen interjects. "We don't want to go through this again."  
"Even if you can't bring yourself to care about other lives," Zordon reasons, "consider that it is only a matter of time before the conflicts of the universe catch up with you."  
"And when it does," Chen counters, "our home can move to another planet, and defend itself if need be."  
"So you'll just keep running away whenever there's a problem?" Alpha asks him.  
"Call it running away if you must," Chen replies. "But neither Mary or I have anything to do with all the wars of the universe. Why should we try to stop fights which we didn't start?"  
Zordon tries to hide how appalled he is at Chen's apathy. "I don't deny that you didn't begin these conflicts, but as people you have a duty to stop evil from doing its bidding."  
Chen snorts. "Evil is a matter of perspective. A predator may think its prey is evil because it tries to do things the hard way."  
"Then what about the Marveller?" Zordon questions. "It may be a formidable ship, but it is only one ship. What happens when it's surrounded by enemy ships, and you have nowhere left to run?"  
Chen shrugs. "We just set it to self-destruct, and let it explode."  
"With you inside it?" Alpha's worry is audible.  
Chen nods, prompting Alpha to cry "aye-aye-aye" again.  
"In other words, you are living here, waiting to die," Zordon summarizes. "How is that any different from a soldier?"  
"Because unlike a soldier, we have a choice." Chen explains. "We can choose to deny our enemies battle, and we choose when we die. Until then, we make the best of having each other's company."  
He turns to smile at his wife, who isn't smiling back.  
"I think you should go with them."  
This time, it's Chen's turn to be shocked. "What?"  
"If you could see yourself the way I do, you would agree with me," Mary continues. "During the first days of our hermitage, you trained yourself every day..."  
"To stay in shape in case we need to fight," Chen interrupts. "You know that."  
"I do," Mary replies. "But in the past few months, your training has lasted longer. I almost have to beg you to rest. You're training for a fight, you're aching for one."  
Chen looks at his own fists as he hears her talk. He rubs his knuckles, feeling how smooth they are. Too smooth. They haven't hit anyone in a long time. Not outside his own head. He has to admit it to himself, that Mary is right. He is itching for a fight. He turns to the giant floating head that is Zordon.  
"All right. I'll do it."  
Zordon would nod in triumph, except he is still trying to recover from a shock. He tried to convince Chen to fight by appealing to his better nature, and yet his own wife appealed to his worse nature, and that actually works?


	4. Chapter 4

Mary tells Leopardon to change back into the Marveller. Zordon gives them a set of coordinates to a nearby battlefield, which they type into the ship's computers. Doing so, allows the Marveller to travel through space at incredible speed. Since this was the nearest battleground, the trip barely lasted five minutes.

Upon arriving, the Marveller crew bears witness to an unusual sight. There is one planet, but there is no sun to light it up. The only reason they even know there is a planet there, is because lights are emitted from it. Though there is no sun, this planet is not by itself. It looks to be surrounded by several geometric shapes. Mostly squares. But they needed to see only one square turn around, to realize they weren't a two-dimensional shapes, but three-dimensional. Cubes, to be more specific.  
"What are we looking at?" Mary wonders.  
"The planet you see is called Mondas," Zordon explains. "It's the homeworld to the Cybermen."  
Mary and Chen exchange confused looks. They clearly never heard of Cybermen before.  
"Cybernetically enhanced humanoids," Zordon adds. "Much like the Borg, who live inside those cubes."  
"So..." Chen tries to see if he understands this correctly. "We're looking at two people who are... machines?"  
"Essentially, yes," Zordon answers.  
"They both want to mechanize everyone," Alpha adds to this, "but they both have different methods of doing so."  
"But they're taking away your body and replacing it with what? Plastic? Metal?" Chen asked.  
"What we are trying to tell you," Zordon continues, "is that both sides wants to assimilate the other. That is why they are now at a stalemate. Which is an opportunity we wish to use to our advantage."  
Chen already feels the itch in his knuckles, as he's balling his fists. "How do I get in?"  
"With this computer," Alpha explains, "we can teleport you inside one of the ships. There you'll have to find their central computer, disable it, and..."  
"Not so fast," Zordon interrupts. "Before you go, we better give you something to protect yourself."  
"Oh, aye-aye-aye," Alpha sighs, "I almost forgot."  
The robot turns to the console, where he picks up something small, and hands it over to Chen.  
He looks at it. It's a small box, with a gold circle in the middle. Within the circle, there is what looks like a helmet carved into it. A helmet that is made to fit a feline, not a human being. It's an ancient symbol, which Chen recognized too well.  
"Won Tiger?" Chen scoffs. "What am I, a Dairanger?"  
He laughs as he tosses the thing away.  
"Wait a minute!" Mary raises her voice. "What about me? Why don't you give me anything for protection?"  
"You're a medical doctor, not a martial artist," Zordon explains. "Your skills are a lot more useful here than they are on the field."  
"But as a doctor," Mary reasons, "I can see weaknesses with these machine-people's organic parts. Something which Chen wouldn't."  
Zordon and Alpha exchange looks. They clearly hadn't thought of that possibility.  
"We're sorry," Alpha says, "but we only took one protective suit. So we can't send you out on the field if we wanted to."  
Chen chuckles. "I don't want to wear the suit you just gave me. So why not let her wear it?"  
"Because the suit is made for someone of your physique," Zordon explains. "Not hers."  
Mary mumbles something under her breath, which Zordon could hear too well, but decides to neither acknowledge it, or counter it.  
"If you want to help," Alpha suggests, "everything you need to know about the Borg and the Cybermen are in the TARDIS's databanks."  
Mary shakes her head. "Real life is never like the books. I have to see them for myself."  
An idea springs to Chen's mind. "Tell me, with all the technologies you have here, like making things bigger on the inside, teleporting, and whatnot, don't you people have cameras that I can use?"  
"An actual camera would be too bulky for you to carry while you're fighting," Zordon says. "However, we do have lenses which you can wear, allowing us to see what you're seeing."  
"Good!" Chen sounds more cheerful this time. "This way you can take a look at these people while I'm in there."  
Mary nods. "I'd still need a way to talk to you."  
"That's not a problem," Alpha gladly proclaims. "We have ear-pieces too."  
"Then I guess it's all settled," Chen smiles, and Mary smiles back at him.  
"Good luck, Chen," Zordon tells him.

Upon being handed the lenses and the ear-piece, which Chen put into his eyes and ear respectively, Alpha presses a few buttons on his console. A flow of white energy engulfs Chen, turning him into white light. Before Mary can express any surprise at the sight of it, the light has already left the room.

As instructed by the computer, the white light flies from the Marveller to one of the Borg's Cubes. Once inside, and after recovering from what just happened to him, Chen looks around. In the immediate vicinity, there is nothing to see. He walks a little farther down the hall.  
Going down, he finds himself in an odd sort of world. Everywhere he goes, there's something electric. There is electric wiring on the ceiling, there is a wall made of screens, even the spiders are mechanical. As a child, he would have thought this to be amazing, but as an adult he cannot help but to feel a little uneasy.  
At the end, he finds two people. Both of them are humanoid, but only one of them looks to be wearing any sort of armor. It is grayish silver, has metallic plating all over his body, as though he is meant to be some kind of tank, and his head, though featureless, having only a slit for a mouth and two black holes for eyes, is looking down on the other one. This one is wearing black skin-tight clothes, has pale skin, a ray-gun where one of its hand should be, and a laser where its left eye is supposed to be. Both are looking at each other, the silver man has its hand gripped around the black man's throat, the latter in turn has its gun aimed directly at the other's head. They are obviously in combat, but not fighting. It's like watching a movie that is paused.  
Thinking there is nothing for him here, Chen looks away.  
"Wait, Chen," Mary tells him over his ear-piece. "We better take a closer look. See what these things are made of."  
"That would be ill-advised," Zordon says. "The slightest distraction could put these people out of their stalemate, and that Borg could easily aim that gun at Chen."  
Chen could only see one man with a gun, thus he assumes that Zordon means the black one is Borg. The other one must be a Cyberman, then, Chen thinks to himself.  
Still, he agrees with his wife. She told him before how medical revolutions have been made by taking risks. This is no different. He places his hand the Borg as he takes a closer look.  
The Borg turns its head toward the thing that just touched him. As a response to what his opponent did, the Cyberman does the same.  
To Chen's horror, the two let go of each other and turn to him. Whatever problem they had before, they seem to have forgotten all about it, just so they can both focus on him.  
The Borg shoots at Chen, but he dodges just in time. The Cyberman raises his foot, and slams it down, but Chen could roll away from that.  
As soon as Chen realized he survived that attack, the Borg bends over him. Chen raises his legs, with which he grabs hold around the Borg's neck, and pulls him off the ground, and under his own weight, the Borg's head crashes through the floor.  
Chen jumps back up, and looks at the Cyberman. This man grabs hold of the Borg, pulls him out of the floor, and swings him around. Chen jumps backward, as tries to dodge the attacks. But as he gets back, he hears more footsteps. More Borg on their way?

Mary, who has been able to witness all this through a sphere-shaped device in Zordon's control room, thunders at Alpha. "Teleport him out!"  
Alpha presses a few buttons, but nothing happens. "I can't! Something is interfering my signals."  
"As I feared," Zordon says. "The Borg's shield would often allow people to get in, but not out. It's one of their more efficient means to assimilate..."  
"Oh, spare me!" Mary snaps back.

Though the Cyberman misses Chen, his Borg-body weapon hits the walls. In one such instance, the Borg's ray-gun falls off. Chen, being quick enough to notice, rolls toward the gun, picks it up, and as soon as he can sit up, he aims the gun and fires it at the Cyberman.  
Unfortunately, Chen has no training in shooting, so unsurprisingly, he misses the Cyberman. He did hit the wall behind him, creating a hole that exposes some of the electronic wiring that goes into this ship.  
The Cyberman, having grown weary of his weapon, drops the Borg, and reaches out to Chen.  
With his gun held at his chest's height, Chen thrusts forward, yelling as he does so. Instead of using his bare hands, Chen uses his gun to push the Cyberman backwards, into the hole with the electric wiring.  
The Cyberman, now trapped in the wires of the Cube, spasms heavily. He balls his fists, stretches his legs, trying to fight back, but to no avail. As he's fighting, the lights of the Cube start to flicker.

Whatever is happening to the Cube on the inside, can be viewed from the outside. This allows for whoever is in the Marveller cockpit to witness this. Including Zordon and Alpha, who can witness events from the cockpit, through the open door to his TARDIS.  
"Alpha!" Zordon shouts, "Teleport him out now!"  
The order was unnecessary, since Alpha had already started punching a few buttons. Mere seconds later, the white light that had left the room earlier, returns, and forms into the familiar shape, which Mary immediately embraced.  
"Are you all right?"  
Chen shrugs. "I've been through worse."  
"Zordon, look," Alpha points to the window.  
Everyone watches, as they see the other Borg Cubes gather around the one broken Cube, and begin repairs.  
"The Borg are distracted now," Zordon reasons. "The Cybermen will make their move now."  
"How does that help us?" Chen asks.  
A thought occurs to Mary. "Wait, you mentioned earlier that the Cybermen's base is a planet. But why is it here? In the middle of space? Not orbiting a star?"  
Zordon frowns at the question. "Because it fell out of orbit. They converted it into a spaceship."  
"A spaceship?" Mary sounds skeptical about this. "An entire planet? The amount of energy it uses must be enormous."  
"Of course," Zordon replies.  
"What if something goes wrong?" Mary suggests. "What if there is an accident, or an overload?"  
"It would destroy the whole planet." Alpha asnwers.  
Mary grins. "Chen, we have some steering to do."  
Her grin is returned by her husband.

As the two mechanical forces are preoccupied, neither ever noticed there is a ship nearby, or even that it starts moving. Its heading is toward the planet Mondas.  
Mid-flight, the natives of the rogue planet have noticed something approaching them, as the Marveller itself is able to witness. Several ships are launched from the Cyber-planet, and launches its missiles toward the approaching vessel.  
The Marveller shoots some of its own missiles. While not enough to completely defeat the Cyber-ships, they are enough to deflect the Cybermen's attack. At least for long enough to allow the Marveller to change into Leopardon.  
In this form, the Leopardon rushes toward the Cyber-ships, grabs hold of one of them, spins around to create momentum, unyields the ship, tossing it to a small portion of the fleet, which explodes on impact.  
One Cyber-ship realizes the method, and starts changing its form too. Leopardon, recognizing what the ship is doing, reaches out to it, sticks its fingers in between the seams of the transforming ship, where it's most vulnerable, and tears it apart.  
Of course, as incredible a feat this is, little time is given to celebrate, as several more Cyber-ships approach the humanoid robot.  
Leopardon reaches for his sword, just when one ship explodes on its own. It turns its head, only to see tiny spheres, heading toward the Cyber-ships. These spheres, though smaller in size and different in shape, the configurations are reminiscent to the Borg Cubes. It looks like their stalemate has ended.  
With these two warring factions at each other's throats, Leopardon can lower itself down to the surface of Mondas, changing back into the Marveller as it does so.

"Alpha," Zordon begins as soon as the ship has entered the atmosphere. "Begin scanning the planet surface."  
"Yes, Zordon," Alpha presses a few buttons.  
Alpha keeps scanning the planet for several minutes, but the longer it takes him, the more aggressive he becomes with punching the buttons.  
"Aye-aye-aye!" Alpha beats his own head. "It's no use, Zordon. Their energy centers are underground. We'll never be able to destroy it!"  
"Zordon?" Mary's voice sounds through the room.  
Hearing his name, Zordon turns to the direction where he heard her talking. "Yes?"  
"This planet isn't in an orbit around a sun, thus there is no temperature or gravity that can create clouds," Mary explains. "Am I right?"  
"Yes," Zordon answers. "Why?"  
"Then what am I looking at?" Mary points to something outside.  
Zordon looks for himself.  
There is indeed a mass of clouds outside, which shouldn't be possible. Zordon squints his eyes, and notices that these clouds are moving up, as though someone is shooting them from the ground. That's when he realizes what is really happening.  
"They're from cooling towers," he explains. "Creating such massive amounts of energy can heat up their machine tremendously. It needs to be constantly cooled."  
An idea forms in Mary's head. "So if we take out these cooling towers, there machines will overheat, and..."  
Chen smiles upon the suggestion. "Already on it."

The Marveller heads toward the nearest cooling tower. Once above it, it drops some of its missiles into the tower's shaft. Once it's done that, it finds another tower, and repeats what was done before. He does so multiple times, until several Cyber-ships are approaching the Marveller.  
Chen and Mary see the ships approaching. "I think we outstayed our welcome."  
An agreeing nod from Chen, but before anything else can be said, explosions can be seen. Not just in the area underneath them, but others in the distance. As they look at the horizon, at almost every point, something explodes.  
Mary shouts into her wrist-device. "Go! Get out of here!"  
They can only just witness the ship's nose rising up toward the sky, and shuddering as it begins its ascend. But as they're going, a blaze of fire begins to engulf the Marveller. Chen realizes that he may have overdone it just a little, when...


	5. Chapter 5

Nothing. One moment the explosion of a planet is engulfing them. The next, the fire is gone. The reading on their computers show no sign that their ship is damaged, Mary and Chen check each other out, and notice no burns. They are all right.  
"What just happened?"  
"Sorry," Alpha enters the Marveller. "We should have mentioned. While you were out fighting Cybermen and Borg (turns to Mary), and you were watching his every move, I connected the TARDIS to the Marveller. This way, whenever the TARDIS travels, your ship travels as well. And when we saw we couldn't escape the explosion of Mondas on time, we turned on the TARDIS engines, and simply dematerialized ourselves out of this point in time and space, and rematerialized in another."  
Chen turns to Mary. "Did you get any of this?"  
Barely has Mary opened her mouth, or the ship experiences a tremor.  
"What was that?" Mary shifts her head.  
"Aye-aye-aye-aye-aye!" Alpha starts shouting uncontrollably. "I forgot to watch where we were going!"  
A shade passes by the ship's window. Chen and Mary look out.  
If the sight of one planet surrounded by flying cubes wasn't enough out of the ordinary, this is, if possible, just as strange. There is one flying saucer, covered all over with hemisphere-shaped lumps, firing beams at five smaller ships. These ships, though similar in appearance, can be distinguished by the fact that each of them bore their own color. Red, pink, blue, yellow and green. Before Chen and Mary's very eyes, these smaller ships fell apart, their pieces bending to one way or the other, and then coming back together, until the five ships have become one ship.  
"You transported us in the middle of a battle, you idiot" Mary snarls at Alpha.  
Alpha shrugs. "It's fine. We're being helped by the Timerangers."  
"I wouldn't be too calm, Alpha," Zordon's voice sounded.  
All turn to look into the TARDIS, where Zordon's head can be seen.  
"While the Timerangers," Zordon continues, "or indeed anyone from Time Police, are competent fighters, they are fighting Daleks, who are not to be underestimated."  
"Unidentified vessel, come in," an unknown voice just spoke through the cockpit.  
All shift their heads.  
Mary points to the ship's monitor. "There, silly."  
Chen and Alpha look at the monitor, where the face of a black-haired man, in a white suit, has appeared.  
"This is Valerian, of the Time Police," the face says. "I don't know how you got here, but it's too dangerous for you to be here. Leave the area at once."  
Chen grins. "And leave all the fighting to them?"  
"What?" Alpha cannot believe his ears.  
"I knew you couldn't pass up something like this," Mary raises her wrist-device, and calls into it. "Change Leopardon."

As ordered, the Marveller transforms again into its humanoid form, Leopardon. Thus formed, it reaches down to its leg, where its sword is hidden. With one quick toss, the sword is thrown at the flying saucer. The saucer's pilot, being distracted by its battle with the Time Ship, doesn't notice the sword that's heading toward them, until it actually impacts with them. One might imagine them frantically trying to control the damage that is done to their ship, but failing. The saucer, along with its occupants, explodes. If there was a medium in space that could carry sound, the bang would have deafened anyone twice over.

While the sword is returning to Leopardon's hand, Chen and Mary hug each other, in celebration of what they have just accomplished.  
"And to think that Zordon said these Daleks are so tough," Chen remarks. "And yet all it took to take them down is a sword."  
"Maybe they've never seen a sword before," Mary reasons. "Or they would have protected themselves against that."  
Chen shrugs.  
"What have you done?!" Valerian's voice sounds throughout the cockpit.  
Mary replies. "We helped you."  
"Helped us?" Valerian's incredulity was audible when he said that. "We were trying to lure all the other Daleks to this area. And now that you have destroyed their ship, they won't come to their rescue anymore."  
Both widen their eyes. Chen responds. "How were we supposed to know?"  
"You weren't," Valerian answers. "You were to leave the area, as I told you."  
Chen shivers at Valerian's voice, but all it takes for him to calm down, is the feel of Mary's hand on his hand, and her soft voice whispering something in his ear. Having done so, she turns to the monitor, addressing Valerian.  
"We are sorry, officer. It won't happen again."  
Valerian nods. "We will make sure it won't."  
Valerian turns to someone off screen, shouting. "Tatsuya. Time Robo Alpha!"

Outside, the Time Ship is seen falling apart again. Only this time, the pieces take on a different form. Two of them fold out into something longer, with five tentacle-shaped things on the one end of each piece, while two others form something longer, with heavier blocks on their ends. The remaining one takes on a form that cannot be immediately recognized. The other four join back together with the fifth form. The former two join at the upper part, the latter two at the lower. The Time Ship had formed into this thing that Valerian called Time Robo Alpha.

"Take the robot and its occupants into custody," Valerian orders the people in control of Time Robo Alpha, before he switches off the monitor on his end.  
Chen shrugs. "I have fought one giant robot before. This one should be a singe."  
Having said that, Chen grabs hold of the ship's controls, and charges Leopardon onto the Time Robot.  
"Alpha," Zordon barks. "Take us out of here."  
The robot assistant is already ahead of his master, except: "I can't. A portal is being opened in here. It's blocking our get-away."  
Mary, overhearing this, turns to the two. "What is being opened? And where?"  
As if in answer to her question, a circle of light appears behind her. The sudden appearance of light makes Mary turn around. From the light, a man jumps up, wearing a blue uniform, with golden shoulder-pads, pointing a gun at her. Mary has had mere seconds to see this man's nametag, which reads "Walker".  
"Seize and desist!" Walker shouts at them.  
Chen, surprised by the sound of the voice, stops controlling his robot. He makes a half-turn to whoever spoke.  
"Don't move a muscle!" Walker directs his gun at Chen.  
This momentary distraction is one that Mary takes advantage of, as she reaches her right arm behind her back.  
As all this is unfolding before him, Zordon turns his head to Alpha, directing him with his eyes to a console in the room.  
Alpha, observing Zordon's limited motions, knows exactly what he's referring to. As ordered, the robot assistant moves toward the appointed console.  
Unfortunately for him, his feet make a loud enough noise for Walker to hear. He turns around, and fires his gun.  
From where she's standing, Mary cannot see what is going on, but the sound of sparks, and Alpha's "aye-aye-aye-aye-aye" gives her an idea of what just happened.  
"I know robots have no muscles," Walker quips, "but my order goes for you too!"  
Just as easily as he heard Alpha's footsteps, he can hear the clacking of Mary's heels as she approaches him. He would scoff at how slow these people seem to be at responding to his demands. He turns around, grabs hold of Mary, holds her before him, pointing his gun at her.  
"I was ordered to take you in by any means necessary," Walker says. "I do not intend to harm her, unless you give me no cho..."  
His sentence is cut short as he feels something in his arm. Pain is his first thought. But slowly he realizes it's not pain, it's the exact opposite. It's a numbness. He feels the woman he caught pushing his arm away. He tries to keep hold of her, but his arm is already losing its strength.  
Being loose from Walker's grip, Mary turns to look at the big man, who is now struggling to keep standing on his two feet. A grin creeps on her lips.  
"What did you think? That I was just a defenseless woman?"  
A look of surprise tries to form on Walker's face, but he can't do it. As his head sinks, he notices a syringe sticking into his arm.  
"If you knew what I did to the last guy that assaulted me, you'd consider yourself lucky," Mary says before Walker drops down to the floor, motionless.  
Zordon, upon watching all this unfold before him, doesn't know what to think. On the one hand, he is happy that the situation is resolved, but on the other they fought against a Time Agent. On top of that, Mary's statement about what she has done to the last person who attacked her, has him wonder if it was the right idea to hire these two to save the universe.  
This, Chen takes as his cue to carry on fighting Time Robo Alpha.  
"Funny," Chen realizes. "They're not even defending themselves. It's like they didn't expect me to fight back at all."  
"Maybe they hoped this guy would have done the job for them," Mary laughs.  
"Good thing you're a doctor," Chen says.  
Mary shrugs. "You've taught me how useful it is to have some sedatives around all the time."

The two robots are flying towards one another. As they do, a light starts shining from Time Robo Alpha's chest. From this light, something long and flat emerges. As it comes, the pilot of Leopardon cannot discern what it is. Toward the end of the thing, what looks like a hilt shows, revealing that it is a sword. Leopardon speeds up its approach, catching the sword before the Time Robot can, flies up, onto Time Robo Alpha's back, and thrusts the sword down. Sparks start flying from the robot, thus Leopardon pushes off it, transforms back into the Marveller, and jumps to hyperspeed. Within those mere seconds, a blinding light starts flaring behind the Marveller, indicating the explosion of Time Robo Alpha.

Perceiving some of the light, Chen heaves a relieved sigh. "That takes care of that."  
"Do you realize what you have done?!" Zordon cries. "First you sedate a Time Cop, and now you destroy Time Police property. Likely destroying everyone inside!"  
"What else were we supposed to do?" Chen counters this. "They obviously weren't going to let us go."  
"We could have explained the situation to them," Zordon explains. "Called up some of my friends to back up our story!"  
"Max!" Valerian's voice sounds again, only this time it didn't come from the monitor. "Are you all right? Max Walker!"  
Mary reaches for the cop she had floored. She picks up a small hand-held device, from which Valerian's voice can be heard.  
"Can you trace this, and send him back to those coordinates?" Mary asks him.  
"We can," Zordon replies. "However..."  
"Then I suggest you do so," Mary interrupts.  
Zordon's jaw drops at her words. "I have never..."  
"Look," Mary interrupts again, "would you rather keep him here against his will? You'd put yourself in the same position as we have. Bring him back, he'll report what happened here, and they'll have no choice but to see our actions as self-defense. Or does the Time Police not believe in such things?"  
The glare on Zordon's face doesn't fade, but there is some truth to what Mary says, he realizes. He turns to his robot assistant.  
One look at him, and Zordon already feels pity. The shot that Walker had fired, had blasted Alpha's arm off. While he is programmed for self-repair, doing so with only one arm is no easy feat. He can see how Alpha struggles cutting into a wire, holding the cutter in one hand, but having no other hand to hold the wire.  
"Alpha," Zordon almost feels sorry to give this order. "We want you to teleport our guest back to where his radio signal comes from. Can you do that?"  
Upon hearing the question, Alpha drops what he is doing. "Yes, Zordon. I'm sending now."


	6. Chapter 6

Upon teleporting Walker out of the ship, Zordon turns his attention to Chen. "Where have you set a course to?"  
"Nowhere special," Chen answers. "Just a quiet place that I know of."  
"A wise decision," Mary agrees. "You've just been in two battles, in rapid succession. And all that after several years of fighting imaginary opponents. You really need your rest."  
"Very well," Zordon nods. "You can rest for now."  
Chen snorts. "How nice of you to permit us some sleep in our own home."  
With that, he leaves for his personal quarters, with Mary following him.  
Zordon then turns to his assistant. "Alpha, can you contact the others?"  
A groan escapes Alpha's auditory senders. "Are you ever gonna let me repair my arm?"  
"You should still have plenty of time for that while I inform our allies on the situation," Zordon suggests.  
Again, Alpha drops everything. Though the sound his equipment made when he did so, indicated that it is all done with protest. He presses a few buttons on the console, and a few seconds later, an image appears on the viewing sphere. The image of a man with pointed ears. One whom Zordon and Alpha have spoken to not too long ago.  
"Zordon," Spock nods his greeting. "What have you to report?"  
"As we had hoped, Chen Zhen has succeeded in destroying the planet Mondas, and taking an entire army of Borg with it," Zordon replies.  
"That is consistent with what we have been hearing," Spock says. "All around the univere, Borg are retreating, and the Cybermen are collectively confused."  
"So, this should put a damper on the wars," Alpha quips, while having returned to fixing his arm.  
Spock shakes his head. "The Time Lords have also received a complaint from the Timerangers."  
Zordon's eyes widen, as he knows what Spock is talking about.  
"They were under the impression," Spock explains, "that they were allowed to police time in every way they saw fit. And yet a ship, which looks like one manufactured on Supaida, but used Time Lord technology to transport itself, came and destroyed their Time Ships."  
"Did anyone survive the destruction?" Zordon asks.  
Spock nods. "They had a small vessel on board their ships, which allowed them to escape the explosion."  
Zordon releases a relieved sigh, before continuing. "We entered that zone by accident. We believed the Timerangers to be in trouble with the Daleks. We had no way of knowing they had other plans. They were about to take us into custody, but... Chen and Mary resisted. As I expected they would."  
Spock raises a brow. "So they are still capable of carrying out the mission?"  
Zordon does not immediately reply. "I fear so."  
"Fear?"  
"Using Chen Zhen as our ultimate weapon may have been a mistake," Zordon explains. "He destroyed Time Robo Alpha, with complete disregard for who is inside. Mary, his wife, fully supports him, no matter what he does. She's even hinted at being capable of doing much worse than what I have witnessed her do."  
"I have felt similar reservations when Commander Krugger informed us about them," Spock replies. "We were all aware of the risks involved, and the lack of alternatives. So unless you have a better suggestion, we have no choice but to rely on Chen Zhen. And his wife."  
Alpha shakes his head in frustration. "Maybe we were better off getting a Saiyan for this."  
Spock turns his attention to the robot. "Since they are now conquered by the Kryptonians, we will never know if that's true."

Positioned on his bed, in cross-legged position, hands forming a circle at his belly, Chen sits meditating. As he does, Mary touches his chest with her stethoscope, listening. After she is done, she checks his entire body. Slowly, and thoroughly, as any doctor would.  
"Your heartbeat is erratic," she tells him. "And you're lucky you haven't broken any bones. Yet."  
This time, Chen sighs. "Why are you worried? You said it yourself that I need this. How I have been restless."  
"I didn't say you have to be reckless instead," Mary interjects. "Didn't your master teach you about that?"  
Chen shrugs. "He must have died before he could."  
Hearing this, Mary hunches her shoulders. "Fair enough."  
"About what you said earlier," Chen starts, "about the last man that messed with you?"  
Mary widens her eyes.  
"What do you think this Time Agent is thinking now?" Chen adds.  
Mary laughs. "He probably thinks I was bluffing. Or, since he's a Time Agent, I may be mentioned in his history books, and he only now realizes whom he was dealing with."  
Chen stifles a laugh, which amuses Mary. "Quite a couple we make, don't we? One who's dangerous for his fists, the other who's a threat because of her medicine."  
Chen bursts out laughing. "Not to mention that this Zordon character now claims that we're the only hope for the universe."  
Mary chuckles. "Gives a whole new meaning to "a friend in need"."  
Both laugh out now, just when both feel a tremor. Light at first, but as the seconds pass by, it gets progressively worse.  
Mary sighs. "What's going on this time?"  
They leave the room to check.

Arriving in the cockpit, Mary and Chen look out the window. Instead of the blue lights of hyperspace, there is now the white dots of regular space.  
"Our trip got interrupted?" Chen frowns at this.  
"How is that possible?" Mary wonders.  
Chen points to something outside the window. "Could they have something to do with this?"  
Where Chen is pointing, Mary can see several ships hovering. They are gray in color, and triangular in shape. Somewhat clashing with their color, are the cannons, which are black.  
"They must be." Zordon's voice sounds from the TARDIS.  
Immediately, Chen and Mary turn to the TARDIS doors, looking directly at Zordon, who continues. "These ships are Destroyers, who are with the Galactic Empire. But their cannons resemble that of the Peacekeepers."  
"Well, we did hear they have joined forces," Alpha reminds him.  
Mary turns her head, and notices a change with the robot. "Alpha, your arm is healed?"  
Alpha prepares to answer, but Zordon talks instead. "What bothers me, is their ability to interrupt hyperspace travel. Neither people have ever shown the capacity to do so. Unless..."  
Any pause from Zordon is unnerving.  
"Unless what?" Chen asks.  
A voice sounds from the TARDIS control room.  
Mary and Chen exchange glances, and read from their faces they're both thinking the same thing. Is there someone else in the room? They rush into the room.  
There, they see a face has appeared on the viewing sphere. Its elongated face, and horns on top of its nose, reminds them of a rhinoceros. One who is wearing a black suit, and moving its front legs like a human would his arms. They listen to every word he's saying, but none of it makes any sense.  
"What is that language?" Mary asks.  
"For reasons unknown to everyone," Zordon answers, "the TARDIS cannot translate their language."  
Both Chen and Mary frown upon hearing this. Both open their mouths to ask questions, but before they can, they can hear their own voices, as well as Zordon's, repeated over the sphere. They turn back to it, where the rhino is seen holding up a black stick, what at first glance looks like a microphone. He sticks it inside a gap in his armor.  
"Language assimilated," the rhino says, its words suddenly more coherent. "I am the chief of the Judoon. Your ship will be impounded."  
"Impounded?" Chen is the first to speak up. "What for?"  
"Illigal hyperdrive," is the answer.  
"Since when is there a law against it?" Zordon asks.  
"Since all the galactic police forces have joined together," the Judoon chief replies. "And decided that all hyper-travel must be sanctioned. Thus preventing any more battles."  
"And who are you to decide that?" Zordon counters. "You are merely three of many police forces in the universe. I don't see any Green Lanterns, Ultramen, or even any of the Special Police Dekarangers with you."  
"Their authority is not recognized," the chief replies.  
A snort escapes Mary's mouth. "Wars have been fought for years, and only NOW this "police force" decides to do anything about it?"  
The Judoon chief picks up a small notepad. "I'm adding a fine for contempt of authority."  
"Fine me all you like, I'll only be more contemptuous," Mary warns him.  
The chief stops writing as he heard that. "Are you confessing to future breakings of the law?"  
Chen steps forward, hoping this will make him look bigger on the Judoon's screen. "Us breaking the law is the least of your problems."  
The Judoon chief mutters something in his own language, before pressing more buttons, and breaking the connection.  
Chen grins, then turns to Zordon. "Is there a way out of this?"  
"I already tried using the TARDIS controls, but they don't work either," Alpha panics.  
"They must be using a device on board their ships to keep us grounded," Zordon speculates. "Unless we can somehow disable that, we're not going anywhere."  
Upon hearing this, Mary widens her eyes. "But I have an idea!"


	7. Chapter 7

A beam is shot from one of the Destroyers. But it wasn't a destructive one. It was beam that pulls ships closer. What the people from the Destroyers call a tractor-beam. It hits the Marveller, and pulls it inside the Destroyer's docking bay.

Immediately upon touching down, the Marveller is surrounded by soldiers, guns fully loaded, and aimed at the ship.  
On one side of the ship, a door opens.  
"Everyone, aim for that door!" an order is barked out.  
Their eyes and guns never leaving the door, they all witness how three people leave the ship. One male, one female, and one robot. While the robot Alpha keeps his hands up in the air, Chen and Mary do nothing. Not even looking angry at the armed guards.  
"Only three? The Judoon officer mentioned a fourth one," the commanding officer says.  
Mary looks the man up and down, as well as the soldiers. The soldiers are dressed in white armor. While she can see the necessity in wearing such things, the commanding officer's uniform seems completely at odds, as it's made of black leather. It's almost as if he's a commander of a different army, who is now stuck with these white men. She remembers Zordon mentioning how this Destroyer seems to be made of technologies from two different people. If these soldiers are with the Galactic Empire, since their suits match with the ships, that must mean this commanding officer is a Peacekeeper.  
"Where's the traitor called Zordon?" the commander asks.  
"Traitor?" Alpha, for the first time ever, sounds angry. "How dare you call him that!"  
The Peacekeeper shouts, "Stormtroopers!"  
The men in white raise their guns at Alpha, who immediately shuts up.  
Chen shrugs. "At least now we know what these people are called."  
"He called Zordon a traitor," Mary whispers back at him. "Wonder what that's about."  
"Silence!"  
Mary looks at the Peacekeeper, trying not to laugh at the order he just cried.  
Looking at the entrance to the Marveller, the Peacekeeper steps toward it. There is very little light in there, as he expected. It's a sign that they're hiding something in there that they don't want others to see. He grins as he moves toward it.  
"Marveller! Stiletto!"  
Upon hearing the command from Mary, the door to the Marveller shuts abruptly. A flash of light covers the ship, indicating a forcefield is now protecting it. Just to be sure, the Peacekeeper tries touching the door, and feels the shock from doing this.  
He turns his head to Mary, anger visible on his face.  
"Unlock the ship," he orders.  
Mary giggles. "I don't take orders from you."  
The Peacekeeper makes one hand-gesture, and the Stormtroopers aim their guns at her.  
"Go ahead, shoot me," she says. "But then you'll never find out how to get in."  
The Peacekeeper grins. "Aim at her companions."  
As ordered, the Stormtroopers point their guns at Chen and Alpha. While the latter cries the word "aye" more times than usual, Chen merely grins, looking at his wife, who is not afraid, but aggravated instead.  
"You shoot them, and I'll definitely never tell you!"  
The Peacekeeper sighs. "This isn't a game, miss. So I sug..."  
"I'm not playing games," Mary interrupts. "You hijack us, threaten us with our lives, and you expect us to roll the red carpet for you?"  
The Peacekeeper shakes his head. "Zordon is not worth your loyalty."  
"And you're not worth our cooperation," Mary bites back. "What's your point?"  
The Peacekeeper rolls his eyes. He's met people who don't respect authority before, but usually they at least cave when their loved ones are threatened. These two don't even seem fazed at all about their situation. He tries a different approach.  
"You don't need to tell us how to get in," he says. "We have our own ways of forcing entry."  
Chen laughs. "Then why waste your time with us?"  
"Aye-aye-aye-aye-aye!" Alpha cries out. "How can you two be so callous? Don't you understand what they might do to you?"  
Looking at the robot, the Peacekeeper realizes that the answer to all his questions just spoke to them. He turns to his soldiers. "Take the humans to their holding cells. And take the droid to the labs for examination."  
Chen frowns. "Droid?"  
"I think he means Alpha," Mary explains.  
If Alpha had the muscle for it, he'd have gulped. "Me?"  
Before anyone can say anything, the soldiers surround the three. Separately, to make sure one cannot assist the other. And separately, they are being escorted to where the Peacekeeper ordered them to go.

Somewhere during escort, Chen, Mary and Alpha are forced into a corridor that goes into two directions. Chen and Mary are forced to in one, while Alpha is pushed into another. Mary shouts after Alpha, but only gets a stomp in her stomach for it. Chen, in his anger, starts toward the Stormtrooper who stomped her, but stops as soon as he sees the same trooper aiming his gun at her. Though he retreats, he doesn't change the contemptuous expression on his face.  
One Stormtrooper places his hand on Mary's arm, to help her up, but Mary pulls herself away from him. "Don't touch me!"  
A sigh can be heard through the Stormtrooper's helmet. "I have been ordered to escort you..."  
"Did you hear the word "harass" in that order?" Mary questions him. "I thought you people were all about upholding the law!"  
Upon hearing this, the Stormtroopers exchange some glances. One of them reaches out to her, but thinks better of it, and instead aims his gun, motioning her to move forward.  
One of the Stormtroopers mutters under his breath. "We should really revise some of our laws."

Once they arrive at a door, which is labeled "droid-repair room", the Stormtroopers stop. One of them opens the door, while the other pushes Alpha into the room.  
"Hey!" Alpha shouts back at them. "Why are you pushing me in here? I don't need repairs!"  
The Stormtroopers don't say a word. They shut the door in Alpha's face, followed by a beeping sound.  
Alpha, unsure of what he just heard, presses a button on the side of the door. Nothing happens. He raises his hand to try again, but it's stopped.  
What is stopping his hand, Alpha wonders, so he looks to his arm.  
Another arm is holding it. Alpha does not recognize the robot that's holding him, but its height and dark color tell him enough.  
"You are here for examination," the robot says. "You can only go once that's done."  
"What examination?" Alpha asks, "I'm not broken."  
"That is for me to decide," is all the answer that the robot can give him.  
Alpha mutters another "aye-aye-aye", but that doesn't stop the robot from dragging him deeper into the room.

The Peacekeeper, still obsessed with trying to find his way into the Marveller, takes out his tablet. He is aware that the Peacekeeper's database on Earth's culture is limited, but it's the best chance he has at getting through the shield.  
He activates the screen of his tablet, where he types in the word "stiletto". His thought is that if he can figure out what the word means, it may give him a clue as to what word would unlock the ship.  
According to the database, depending on the context, "stiletto" can mean either a blade, or the heel of a shoe. Next to the second definition, the Peacekeeper sees a picture of a shoe. Though the color is different, it is still the same sort of shoe that he saw Mary wearing. So, if one type of heel locks down the ship, another must unlock it. He looks for other types, and reads one word out loud.  
"Wedge."  
No response. A shake of his head later, the Peacekeeper tries another word.  
"Kitten," but again nothing. "Block."  
He reads several of them, but none of them work. He looks further. Maybe, because the heel is only one part of the shoe, he should try other parts. He looks at the database, searching for the right words, and tries them.  
"Sole," nothing changes. "Ball. Lace!"  
Still nothing.  
A sigh escapes the Peacekeeper's mouth. Maybe she was talking about blades after all. He looks at names of Earth blades, and tries those.  
"Katanna," this time he's no longer waiting for something to happen first. "Short sword! Short stick! Switchblade!"  
Several more words later, and he throws the tablet at the forcefield. It causes the small device to explode, but the Peacekeeper doesn't care anymore. Looks like he is outsmarted. And by an Earthen person, no less. His bosses aren't going to like this, he thinks to himself.

The dark droid examines Alpha. He clearly has never seen anything like him before. Tubes for arms, blocks for feet, and a saucer for a head. This robot was not built for efficiency, that much is obvious. When it looks at Alpha's back, it notices something. There seems to be a slot there.  
"What is this slot?" it asks.  
"It's where I read discs," Alpha explains.  
This, the droid understands. "So this must be the only direct link I can make to your memory banks. Good to know."  
From its worktable, the droid raises a disc, that is connected to a wire. At the sight of it, Alpha tries to run.  
"No! Don't stick that in..."  
He cannot complete his sentence, as the disc is slipped into Alpha's slot.  
This being done, the droid now waits for the information that the disc can provide him with.


	8. Chapter 8

Am I deactivated, Alpha asks himself. He doesn't think so. But why can't he see? He thinks of activating his visual receptors. To his surprise, he doesn't just see a screen inside his head turned on, as that is what usually happens. Instead, something seems to lift up like a curtain, as if he has eyelids. With barely enough time to recover from that little surprise, Alpha sees the world around him. He is standing on a transparent platform, which appears to be floating in mid-air, but is connected to other platforms, each of which has its own buildings, which are made up of large cubes. Above him, there is a sky, but instead of stars, he sees lines, both vertical and horizontal, crossing each other, like a grid.  
"Aye-aye-aye," Alpha moans to himself, raising his hands to his head in confusion. "What world am I in..."  
He stops his moaning as he sees his hands. They are smaller, wearing white gloves, although they look more like skin rather than gloves. The sleeves he's wearing seem to be made of a similar fabric. From his arms, he moves to the rest of his body. He is taller, wearing a white suit, with black lines, and glowing blue. What happened to me, he wonders.  
That's when he remembers. He got hooked onto a machine that is supposed to extract information from him. Is that what is going on now? Is he inside the Destroyer's computer?  
A prod is felt in his back. Surprised, Alpha turns around. Normally, he would be astounded at the speed with which he could turn in this new body, but the sight he is beholding once he's turned, is keeping him from feeling it. Now before him, stand two men, who are twice Alpha's size, wearing similar clothes, but with large hoods, and glowing red instead of blue, and carrying large sticks.  
"Move!" one of the men commands.  
Upon hearing the threatening tone of his voice, Alpha quivers at the spot.  
One of the men swings his stick at Alpha. The latter ducks, causing the other man to prod with his stick. Again, Alpha manages to dodge this, by jumping aside.  
Incredible, Alpha thinks to himself. He's not this fast in the real world. Maybe, he thinks to himself, I can try this.  
He balls his fists, raises them, makes them move forward and backward, one at a time, as though he's mimicking a boxer. It's something he's seen Chen do, and he's always wanted to try it himself.  
The two men look at the imitation martial artist. The expression on their faces remains just as serious and demanding as it was before. Though slowly, it dawns upon Alpha that these two are not impressed.  
"Oh..." he returns to his moans.  
Suddenly, the two men stiffen. Only a fraction of a second remains for Alpha to see the exasperated looks on their faces, before their bodies start falling apart. It looks as though whatever building blocks that these two men were made of, can no longer hold together.  
As Alpha is recovering from this shock, he can see the man that stands behind the men with sticks. This one, like Alpha, is glowing blue.  
"You can thank me later," he says.  
"Who are you?" Alpha asks him.  
"I am one of many who are trying to wreck the Destroyer's systems," he explains. "And when we have, we can save the one, the only being in the universe, who can put an end to these wars."  
Even though Alpha's jaw cannot literally drop, seeing as him actually having a jaw is new to him, it does feel as though that is exactly what it's doing. "There is such a creature?"  
"There is," the man says. "This one is held captive on board this destroyer. If we succeed, the One To End The War will be set free."  
"Can I help?" Alpha's over-enthusiasm is audible.  
The man smiles. "Follow me."

Back in the real world, one Stormtrooper and one Peacekeeper are standing guard at the entrance to the holding cells. Aside from watching their screens, and every now and again pushing buttons, should there be any trouble (which there almost never is), they have nothing to do.  
"Have you heard the latest about the Borg?"  
Hearing the Stormtrooper ask, the Peacekeeper turns to him. "No. What's the latest?"  
"They say they have decreased in strength," the Stormtrooper elaborates.  
"They have? I find that hard to believe," the Peacekeeper replies.  
"I said the same thing when I heard," the Stormtrooper says. "But then a friend of mine told me he saw some Borg assimilating Kazon warriors."  
"Kazon?"  
The Stormtrooper nods.  
"But I thought the Borg would never assimilate them," the Peacekeeper remembers this fact very well. "They think the Kazons are useless for their cause."  
"I know," the Stormtrooper answers. "This must mean they've grown so weak, they're desperately looking for new people to assimilate."  
The Peacekeeper chuckles. "I'll say it's despe..."  
He doesn't finish his own sentence, as he notices something behind the Stormtrooper. One moment, there was a shadow, but it's gone now.  
This sudden change in attitude does not go unnoticed by the Stormtrooper. "What's wrong?"  
"I'm not sure," the Peacekeeper rises from his seat to check.  
He walks past the Stormtrooper, and into the corner of the room. But there's nothing.  
"What did you see?"  
The Peacekeeper shrugs. "I don't know. It looked like..."  
A crunching sound stops him from talking.  
Swiftly, the Peacekeeper turns around. What he sees, stuns him. A large blade is penetrated through the Stormtrooper's helmet, and his head along with it. The Peacekeeper's eyes follow the blade, up to where the hand that holds it is. The hand is attached to an arm, that looks to be hanging from the ceiling. Finding his instincts again, the Peacekeeper reaches for his gun.  
A shaft appears in the space between his two eyes. Next thing the Peacekeeper knows, he doesn't feel the gun he's reaching for anymore. Nor does he feel the clothes on his body, the ground he's standing on, or even the pain that, come to think of it, he should be feeling, because a blade has just penetrated him in the head.  
In a flash before his life truly ends, he can make out what attacked him and his co-worker. It was a petite person (a child?) in a purple uniform.

In the virtual realms, Alpha is shown to a large circular building. Upon entering, he finds himself in a room, that has one large circular pillar in the middle, which is spinning at an incredible speed. Surrounding the spinning pillar, are several rectangular green shapes, which travel around the pillar at a slower speed, and in the opposite direction. Alpha's guide presses his palm against one of these shapes. It stops moving, and starts showing a series of symbols, which move down in a straight line.  
Alpha's guide mutters a curse, which makes him curious. "What is it?"  
"It's in a language called Basic," is the explanation. "We have yet to learn it."  
Alpha's mouth twitches. "Well, I know the language."  
This surprises the man. "You do?"  
"Sure. I had to learn all there is to know about Destroyers. So I know their language as well. I'll be more than happy to teach you."  
"Do you have a memory disc?"  
This makes Alpha frown. A memory disc? What is he talking about?  
Of course, this change in expression would not go unnoticed. The man reaches for something behind his own back, grabs it, pulls it in front of him, showing Alpha what he means.  
"This. Do you have this?"  
In all honesty, Alpha does not know. This body is still new to him. Just as demonstrated, he reaches behind his back. He feels nothing, so he must not have one. Wait, he thinks to himself. He feels something a bit more solid. He grabs it, un-clicks it from his back, shows it to his companion.  
"Is this what you mean?"  
A curd nod, followed by a quick exchange of discs, and the man inserts Alpha's disc into his own back.  
"Done," the man says after spending two seconds with Alpha's disc.  
"Huh. That was fast," even Alpha himself is not that quick in studying. "So what are you planning?"  
The man takes Alpha's disc off his back, and exchanges it with for his original disc, as he explains. "I'm sending everything I learned to all my brethren. With this new information, we can now free the One To End The Wars."  
"Wow," Alpha admits. "Can you do the same for my two friends?"  
"Friends?"  
"They came inside this ship to disable a device that keeps them grounded in space. But they have been locked them up, so they can't do anything now."  
The man looks away, pausing for thought. "What are your friends' names?"  
Alpha smiles. "Chen Zhen and Mary Mason."

As he's waiting in his cell, Chen is growing more and more restless. The bed that his cell is provided with is build into the room, so he can't tear it apart if he wants to. There is no window, so he can't look outside. This cell seems to be made to deliberately deprive him from any senses, making him ache all the more for action.  
What's that? he asks himself. He heard something. It sounded like scrunch. What could cause that? Followed by thud, like a body just hit the floor.  
He looks to the door. He cannot see through it, nor is there a doorknob, so he can't just open the door to take a peak either. All he can do is listen, as something else happens. Footsteps. Fast, though light. Someone is rushing through the corridors. Who could it be? Those footsteps reach Chen's door, only to pass him by. Whoever it is, he didn't come here to rescue him. Mary, perhaps?

Many thoughts rush through Mary's head as she paces up and down her cell, the clacking of her heels being the only sound she can hear. What would I do to these "policemen" if they weren't holding me, she wonders. She imagines herself cutting their faces open, placing parts of their masks underneath the skins of their faces, and then sewing them up again. She smiles, as she remembers having done something of a sort to someone else once before. A man from New Jersey, visited her place once, asking her, through drawings and hand-gestures, to get rid of the straps on his hockey mask, and stitch it to his face permanently. Remembering him, she wonders what has become of him.  
Wait, she thinks, did I hear this right? She cannot be sure, as she could only hear her own footsteps, but she could swear she heard the sound of swift footfall outside her cell, interrupting her thoughts. If there was someone running through the corridor, it can't be one of the guards, she tells herself. They looked heavier than that. And considering the pace at which she's heard them walk before, as well as their uniforms, she cannot imagine them being that fast. She runs to the door, hoping it will make her any wiser.

Alpha looks at his companion. He's not sure what he's doing, but though the man's eyelids are shut, his eyes are moving rapidly behind them. After some seconds, the man opens his eyes again.  
"Done," he says.  
"What's done?" Alpha doesn't understand.  
"I have formed a plan with my brethren," is the explanation. "We will allow these friends of yours to escape, tell them about the One To End The Wars, so they will help get her some place safe. After that, we will get this Destroyer to attack other Destroyers, who will of course retaliate, and in so doing, they will destroy each other."  
Alpha would nod, if it wasn't for this one tiny flaw he sees in the plan. "And the device that keeps us grounded?"  
"Already deactivated," he replies with a matter-of-fact tone."  
"What about you?"  
The man smiles. "My brethren and I have our own ways in and outside of this world. You need not worry about me."  
"Oh," Alpha says. "Then I guess it's all right. But what does this One look like?"  
As an answer, the man turns his memory disc around, and above it, one little dot at a time, a picture is formed, giving Alpha an idea about who the man has been talking about all this time.  
The door to Chen's cell opens. He smiles. Looks like his wife's plan is working. He rushes out of his cell. A quick look around, and his eyes already catch the only one he would look for.  
"Mary!"  
She of course hears him, and runs to him. "Chen!"  
A tight embrace when the two are close enough. "You all right?"  
"It takes more than a couple of dressed up soldiers to take me down."  
A loud shriek sounds throughout the corridor. Both turn to look.  
At the far end, they see two young women. One looks pale, has her hair in a bun, wearing a purple uniform, and heaving a sword above the other woman. Said other woman is dark-skinned, wears grey-and-black clothes, that look to be made of unknown materials, and is cowering in fear of the pale woman.  
Chen looks at Mary, who can tell the question he is about to ask, and answers accordingly.  
"We can wait. Go help her!"  
A grin spreads over Chen's face. He turns to his left, and dashes toward the Purple Lady. He balls his fist as he approaches.  
A swift kick from the Purple Lady hits him in the face.  
Just as he hits the ground, Chen is wondering if he saw this right. Her foot hit his face so quickly, he barely had any time to see anything else, but it looked as though this woman didn't even turn to look at him, as she knew where he was going to be before she kicked him.  
He shakes the thought, makes a quick swing with his body, and he is on his feet again.  
A streak of silver appears in the corner of his eye, telling Chen to bend backwards. He only narrowly manages to dodge the woman's attack with her sword. But just barely can he recover from this dodge, or something is already cutting his side. The pain, as well as the surprise, causes him to fall down again.  
He takes a quick look to his side. It looks like a bullet burn, but he didn't hear a shot fired. Other than that, if it was a bullet burn, he'd feel his flesh burning, which he does not. She must have thrown a knife when he was dodging her sword.  
Chen looks up, and sees his opponent, making a quick stride toward him. If she gets close enough, he thinks to himself, he can use his legs to take her down.  
Like a claw clasping its victim, Chen closes his legs around the Purple Lady's legs. Or rather, that was his intention, but she jumped before his legs can even touch her.  
As she lands down, she raises her sword, ready to stab him as she hits the ground.  
Chen rolls around, five times to make sure there is enough distance between him and this woman.  
Who is this Purple Lady? Chen cannot figure it out. Every time he tries to land a hit on her, she dodges it. It's like she knows what he is going to do before he does it.  
While this fight is going on, Mary tends to the victim, who is still crying her eyes out.  
"Is everything OK with you?"  
The victim shakes her head. "I don't know why, but she just attacked me."  
Attacking a defenseless woman? Mary turns her head to the Purple Lady.  
As valiantly as Chen is fighting, his body and clothes are showing cuts, but his adversary is showing nothing. Mary doesn't know too many people who can stand their own against Chen, but she's never seen one who is able to come out of a fight with him unscathed.  
Clearly, they are dealing with a very powerful enemy, who has no problem attacking people who cannot fight back. The thought alone, while it doesn't literally make Mary's blood boil, she feels as though it is boiling.  
Mary thinks about how unfortunate it is that she doesn't have her equipment on her. If she did, she would do the same thing to the Purple Lady as she did to the last man who messed with her. She would sew the Purple Lady's mouth shut, surgically remove her arms and legs, and put them back on, but on the wrong places. Putting her elbow where her wrist should be. And NOT in a matter of speaking. But that's not the end. She could tear off the Purple Lady's skin, again surgically, so to be sure there won't be an infection, and ensuring her survival. With that done...  
Barely has Mary finished her thought, or the Purple Lady drops her blades, takes a few steps back, puts her hands to her head, and starts wailing.  
Chen and Mary exchange confused looks. Neither one understands what is going on. Chen shakes his head, helping himself snap out of it.  
A sword lies before him. As fast as he can, before she stops wailing, Chen picks up the sword, raises it to be between the Purple Lady's legs, and then thrusts it up.  
The Purple Lady stops wailing, as well as moving altogether. Almost as though she needs a few seconds to let what just happened to her sink in. The left side of her jaw drops before her right side does. Her right hand falls, followed shortly by her left. A red line materializes across her face, and from the face down to the bottom of her torso, the same line shows itself as well. One prolonged second later, the left side of her body falls to the ground, while the right side stays up, but only for five seconds before it too gives up.  
After that weird display, Mary turns back to the victim. "How are you?"  
The victim doesn't answer. She has her arms crossed over her eyes, and sobs.  
While trying to recover from his last fight, Chen takes a look inside the cell.  
It is unlike anything he's ever seen. There is a human-shaped flat table, with clamps for the neck, wrists and ankles. Not only that, there are strange orbs, that are made to cover the hands. What exactly is this young woman, that they had to keep her contained like this?  
Mary turns to Chen. "We can't leave her here."  
He nods. "Agreed. But how do we get away? There are bound to be guards."

Alpha is escorted to another platform. Here, there is a big blue light, reaching from the bottom of this odd world, to the top, wherever either one might be.  
"This should help you return to your world," Alpha's companion explains. "But you better hurry. Before our plan..."  
A loud noise interrupts him. Alpha cannot be sure in a digital world like this, but it sounded like something was impacting on something else. Listening a little longer, it sounds like more than one impact is made.  
The man turns, and Alpha looks past him.  
A large number of people, dressed similarly to Alpha and his companion, are all surrounding one other man. This one looks decidedly different from everyone else. He wears a face-concealing helmet, a red suit, along with a full body armor, which has three blue rectangles on it.  
Alpha looks at his friend, and notices that he is as much in a panic as he himself is. "Aye-aye-aye!"  
The companion turns to Alpha. "You better go now. I'll take care of this."  
Alpha tries to say "but", but his friend is already running toward the Armored Man.  
Before Alpha's very eyes, his friend splits apart into several small pixels, as do the rest of the people around him. These pixels all converge together, building up to something larger. Too large for Alpha to see it immediately. There are two towers, holding up a larger slab, from which two tubes spring from, and one orb on top. They were forming into one giant humanoid.  
Alpha smiles at the sight of it, and returns his attention to the Armored Man. The latter punches his chest with his right hand, and raises up his left hand. Before the question of "what good would that do" can even form in Alpha's neural processors, the Armored Man begins to grow larger.  
Two titanic humanoids, standing eye-to-eye with each other. Though Alpha wants to see who will win this fight, a loud crack interrupts his calculations. He looks down.  
Under the feet of these two giant humanoids, the platforms have started to tear up. They cannot bear the weight of these people. Seeing this makes Alpha realize but one thing: that if he stays here much longer, he'll go down with the rest of this digital world. He runs to the light that his friend showed him.

A red body with a yellow lightning bolt, two yellow buttons at the bottom, two blue legs that end with large clumps of feet. Of course, Alpha recognizes his old body again.  
He turns his head to look. To his surprise, the Droid that inserted the disc inside his slot is gone.  
Suddenly, an alarm blares throughout the corridor. Heavy thuds thundering outside the room follow suit, prompting Alpha to turn to the door, and move over as fast as his body can allow him.  
"Ow..." he moans. "Why is my body so slow in the real world?"  
He reaches the door, where he presses a button.  
Not too surprisingly, people are running in all sorts of directions through the corridors. If Alpha had lips, he'd smile. His new friend's plan to get the ships to fire at each other must have already been set in motion.  
Alpha almost jumps in joy, but he reminds himself of a little problem. How is he supposed to leave without being noticed?

Meanwhile, Chen and Mary have also heard the alarm.  
A smile creeps on Mary's lips. "Looks like they have other concerns."  
"What makes you say that?" Chen asks her. "This could be for us."  
"If it was, the guards would be swarming around us by now," Mary reasons, upon which she takes a quick look. "See any guards?"  
Realizing he can't argue with that, Chen nods.  
"Come on," Mary rises from the ground, while helping her new friend up. "We better take advantage while we still can."  
A nod from Chen, who then grabs their fellow escapee around her waist, and carries her over his shoulder. Seeing as she is still crying her eyes out, Chen fears she may be too slow to follow on her own.  
As they suspected, the entire ship is in a panic, and are too distracted to do anything about the escaped prisoners. Chen, Mary, and their latest companion, have very little difficulty in reaching the Marveller.  
"Hold it right there!"  
Both stop in their tracks.  
Mary, who recognizes the voice, mumbles to herself. "Not him again."  
Both turn around, only to be faced by the same Peacekeeper from before.  
"Put her down," he demands of Chen, pointing at the young woman he is carrying.  
Knowing that carrying her over his shoulder will make fighting more difficult, Chen puts down the young woman. Mary, still a doctor at heart, offers the woman her shoulder to cry on.  
"Now," the Peacekeeper continues, as he paces closer to the three, "Just do as I say, and no one will get hurt."  
Before the Peacekeeper has time to blink, Chen spins around, raising his leg, kicking the gun out of the man's hand.  
"Don't you get it?" Chen scoffs. "Threatening us only makes us angrier!"  
The Peacekeeper feels it there and then. What little patience he had with these two, it's gone now. He raises his left fist, ready for combat.  
A sound of thunder roars through the dock, and the Peacekeeper freezes at the spot. He looks down to his belly, where he finds a hole, almost perfectly shaped like a circle.  
He looks up again. He sees Chen turning around, looking at his wife, who is holding a smoking gun in her hand. The Peacekeeper's own gun.  
"Scorpius, forgive me," are the Peacekeeper's last words before he falls.  
Slowly, the pain is fading away, but so is every feeling in every single one of his limbs. He cannot turn his head away, thus he is forced to look on, as Mary turns to the Marveller.  
She raises her hand, brings a small wrist device to her lips, opens it up, and talks. "Marveller, Scalpel."  
If the Peacekeeper had the power left in him, he would have smacked himself. She used the name of one type of blade, one that is made to kill, to lock down the Marveller. Thus the only thing to unlock it would have to be the type of blade that is made to save lives. He can only just wonder why he hadn't thought of this before, just when his eyes can no longer receive any light, and the brain made to process the light shuts down.

Back in the Marveller's cockpit, Mary helps their new friend to sit down, while Chen runs into the TARDIS.  
"Zordon!"  
Upon hearing his own name, the giant head in the glass tube turns to the one talking.  
Zordon sighs relieved. "Glad to see you two are all right."  
Chen shrugs. "Guess Alpha did his job. Speaking of, where is he?"  
"Isn't he with you?" Zordon looks outside the TARDIS, and though he sees a third body, he doesn't see his trusty assistant.  
"Who is that?"  
Chen follows Zordon's eyes, and realizes whom he is referring to. "A fellow prisoner, whom we helped escape."  
Zordon smiles. "It looks like we chose well in having you two help save the universe."  
That being said, Zordon scans the TARDIS console. "That green button over there. If you press that, it should have the computer automatically home in on him, and teleport him back. That is, if he succeeded in deactivating the grounding device."  
"Only one way to find out," Chen replies, upon which he presses the button.  
A small white crackling light enters the console room, and quickly takes the form of the red-and-blue robot.  
"It worked?" Alpha himself is surprised at the news.  
"Welcome back," Zordon says. "Now, take us out."  
Alpha salutes his master. "Yes sir, Zordon."  
A few buttons are pressed.

As commanded by the computers, the TARDIS, and with it the Marveller, dematerialize from inside the Destroyer, to somewhere outside. There, all the passengers of the Marveller can bear witness, as the Destroyers are firing all their missiles at one another, how their smaller attack ships are shooting lasers at each other, and all around how none are kept alive in this battle.  
Alpha looks at this, knowing that the one friend he made would be pleased to see his plan working, but at the same time saddened to know that he won't be able to see it at all.


	9. Chapter 9

"What is going on?" the new member on board asks as she looks around her. "What happened?"  
Mary smiles at the new one. "We got caught by these so-called policemen as well. Once we realized there was no way out, we decided it best to allow us to get captured. This way, Alpha, our robot friend, could easily hook himself into their systems, and find a way out. We used their own authoritative demeanor against them."  
"Didn't think it'd be this easy, though," Chen remarks.  
"I can explain that," Alpha says. "While inside the Destroyer's computer, I met someone, who told me he was doing all this for this One To End The Wars."  
Alpha looks at the young woman in the cockpit. "And it looks like you found her before I did."  
Mary and Chen exchange glances. Then look at their new friend.  
"You mean," Mary begins, "this person here can end wars?"  
"That's what my new friend said," Alpha replies, though his tone shifted to a lower and sadder one. "He believed it so much, he and these brethren he mentioned were willing to sacrifice themselves to safe her."  
A look appears on the young woman's face, but it's hard to tell whether it's shock or happiness.  
"My own... they... they sacrificed themselves? For me?" she can barely believe it even as she says it.  
"Affirmative," Alpha replies, the sad tone remaining in his voice. "And they almost didn't succeed, because some heavily armored dude attacked them."  
Zordon frowns. "What heavily armored dude?"  
Chen thinks about this. "Would he have been with that purple woman we saw?"  
"That makes sense," Mary agrees. "One woman to kill her, and one man to stop anyone trying to help them."  
"A purple woman?" Zordon asks.  
"Yes," Chen answers. "She wore a purple uniform, carried swords, and fought like... I don't know what she was."  
Zordon's eyes widen. "Was she telepathic?"  
Chen's mouth widens at the question. "That would explain it. Every time I tried to hit her, or dodge her attacks, she seemed to somehow know what I was going to do. She must have known because she heard me think it!"  
Mary chuckles at the revelation. "It may also explain why she suddenly started wailing."  
All turn their heads to Mary, who then elaborates. "She may be trained to not falter at the mere thoughts of brute violence, but she wasn't prepared for some of my more twisted thoughts."  
"Wow," Alpha says. "For people to go through all that trouble, just to get rid of her. Maybe she is the One To End The War."  
The young woman shakes her head. "How can I be? I don't even know how to start one!"  
A worried look appears on Zordon's face. "Chen, Mary, you better take her somewhere so she can rest.  
The two nod at Zordon.  
"See that door over there?" Mary asks Chen, pointing to one on the other side of the TARDIS console room. "Maybe there's a room we can use."  
Chen shrugs. "Worth the try."  
The married couple help their new friend up, escort her through the TARDIS console room, and walk through a door at the back.

With these three gone, Zordon turns to his assistant. "Alpha, contact Spock."  
Alpha, without any response, turns to the console, and presses all the appropriate buttons.  
An image forms on Zordon's viewing sphere, but it's not that of Spock.  
"Ultra King?" Zordon questions, "What happened to Spock?"  
"The same as with everyone else on Atlantis," the Ultra King replies. "Wraith came to the city, and attacked en masse."  
Zordon and Alpha exchange glances. "I thought Atlantis was strong enough to withstand an attack from the Wraith."  
"They are," the Ultra King says. "But at the same time as the attack, the Genii came through the gate."  
"They were attacked from two sides?" Alpha is disturbed by the news. "That's unfair."  
"So Atlantis is gone?" Zordon asks.  
"It is," the Ultra King answers. "But that's not the most disturbing news."  
"Aye-aye-aye," Alpha moans. "Today keeps getting better and better."  
"We had an operative infiltrating into the Galactic Empire's computer systems," the Ultra King continues. "He's just informed us that someone very dangerous has escaped their prison."  
This caused a light-bulb to lit up inside Alpha's head. Literally. "This must have something to do with that Armored Man I met."  
Zordon turns to Alpha. "You think he's the one that helped this prisoner's escape?"  
"Odd," the Ultra King remarks. "Our operative did mention a spy who helped this criminal's escape, but he didn't mention anything about him wearing any armor."  
"No matter," Zordon says. "I'll see what we can do about that."  
He turns to his assistant. "Alpha, disconnect, and resume our course."  
"Yes, Zordon," Alpha has already started pressing some buttons. "Resuming now."

Meanwhile, Mary and Chen arrive at a room. Upon opening the door, they find that there is one bed, one dressing table, and one sofa there. All the necessary comfort that their new guest could need.  
"Oh..." she smiles as she gazes upon the room. "Finally, a comfortable bed!"  
Immediately, she runs to said bed, jumps onto it, and lies down immediately.  
Chen just shrugs, while Mary grins at this. "You like it?"  
The new friend laughs. "Anything is better than that slab they had me sleep on in that cell!"  
Chen chuckles. "I cannot argue with that."  
"So, now that you're a little more calm," Mary starts, "can you tell us your name?"  
She doesn't look at the married couple as she answers. "Reese."


	10. Chapter 10

Now that the two know what to call their new friend, they start talking.  
"So, Reese," Mary begins. "What makes you the one to end all these wars?"  
Reese raises her shoulders and shakes her head. "I don't know. My friends would often tell me this, but I can't understand why."  
Chen frowns at this. "What friends?"  
"My friends," she answers.  
Mary clears her throat. "I think what he means is, who are these friends you're talking about?"  
"They are the best friends I've ever had!" Reese shouts, her impatience audible.  
Chen and Mary glance at each other, and Mary turns back to Reese. "We better let you rest now."  
"I've slept long enough on that table," Reese moans. "How about we do something fun?"  
"We will," Mary replies. "After you've rested. Doctor's orders."  
"Doctor?" Reese's eyes widen at the word. "Father was a doctor. He always knew what's best for me."  
Chen scratches his head at this.  
"Well then," Mary adds, "trust me to know the same."  
"Can we have fun after?" Reese asks.  
Mary shrugs. "Sure. Why not."  
"Ok."  
With Reese finally in bed, the married couple leave the room.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Mary asks her husband, in a whisper.  
"That she's acting very immature for her age? I am," Chen replies, keeping his voice down as well.  
Mary nods. "She looks to be late teens, early twenties, and yet... that simplistic choice of words, her reactions to everything we're saying, and the way she spoke about her father. She seems like a child trapped in an older body."  
"How is she supposed to be any sort of savior?" Chen asks.  
"Maybe she's lived a sheltered life," Mary suggests.  
Chen frowns. "Maybe."  
"Chen, Mary," Zordon's voice sounds through the corridor. "Come to the control room, immediately."  
Since the voice came out of nowhere, the two needed a few seconds to recover from this sudden call for them.  
"This thing must have loudspeakers installed somewhere," Mary suggests.  
"My biggest worry is, what is going to happen this time?" Chen questions.

Immediately upon arriving in the console room, the two are told to look outside the window. There, they see that their ship has arrived at a planet, which is surrounded by several, pyramid-shaped vessels.  
Chen chuckles. "Is Ancient Egypt taking over now?"  
"These are Goa'uld ships," Zordon explains. "They belong to a race of serpentoid beings, that are only capable of surviving through burrowing themselves into host-bodies, and taking over their minds."  
Alpha, who by that point had only been pressing a few buttons, suddenly has some news of his own. "Judging from their configurations, some of those ships belong to Apophis, while others belong to Sokar."  
Mary curls her lips. "Are those names supposed to mean anything?"  
"They are known to be the most ruthless Goa'uld rulers," Zordon elaborates. "But that's not the most disturbing news. We came here because this planet was already at war with itself. With the Goa'uld here, things may take a turn for the worst."  
"Why?" Chen asks. "What's on that planet?"  
"Behold," Zordon tells him. "Do you see the large dark area?"  
Both Chen and Mary scan the planet's surface with their eyes. And soon enough, they spot an area that is indeed completely dark.  
Zordon does not wait for them to say whether they found it or not. "It's a land called Mordor. A powerful wizard called Sauron resides there. He commands a dark army, that is rivaled only by the Lord Ruler. Who lives on the other side of that sphere. He does not command an army, per se, but he keeps his people in a state of stupor, which weakens their minds, and with it their resolve to mount any sort of rebellion.  
"It's easy to see why the Goa'uld would want to conquer this planet," Alpha adds. "If any of these Goa'uld snakes can crawl into the bodies of either of these rulers, then the rest of the universe wouldn't stand a chance against them!"  
"The Goa'uld, because of their advanced technologies, are already believed to be gods by many people," Zordon further says. "If they have access to magic, it will only make their claims of being gods more substantial."  
Mary motions to Chen to come closer. He does so, and the two have a conversation of their own, but keep their voices low, so Zordon won't hear it.  
"What are they up to now?" Alphas asks.  
"Hopefully, they are planning to do whatever we contacted them for," Zordon replies.  
Soon enough, the two are done whispering to each other. Chen turns to Alpha. "Where are these rulers you mentioned?"  
In order to answer the question, Alpha presses a few buttons on the console. Some seconds later, he has an answer. "Sensors indicate that the Goa'uld have surrounded both castles, but... there's nobody inside."  
"Nobody?" Chen and Mary reply in unison.  
"Not with any strong magic, at least," Alpha elaborates. "I'll have to scan the rest of the planet."  
Which he does, but as soon as he finds them, he proclaims his cry of "aye-aye-aye".  
"What's wrong, Alpha?" Zordon sounds especially concerned.  
"I found them," Alpha answers. "But they're not alone. Anubis is with them!"  
Zordon's eyes widen, and his jaw drops. This, while the married couple can only look confused.  
"This is worse than I thought," Zordon says. "With the Goa'uld attacking on the outside, Anubis can persuade Sauron and the Lord Ruler into joining forces with him.  
"Another one," Mary states. "Like the Judoon, Peacekeepers and Stormtroopers from before?"  
"That alliance pales in comparison to what an alliance between Anubis, Sauron and the Lord Ruler can be," Zordon replies.  
"In that case, transport me to wherever these people are immediately!" Chen demands.  
Alpha already presses a few buttons. He waits a few seconds, before trying again. And again.  
"It's not working," Alpha says. "They must have a shield covering their location. I cannot get... Aye-aye-aye-aye-aye!"  
Mary sighs. "We can replace him with an audio player that says "aye" over and over again, and nobody would notice the difference."  
"Scanners are showing movement at the location," Alpha explains. "They must have sensed my attempts at entry."  
"Then just transport me outside the place," Chen suggests. "Let me find my own way in."  
Zordon shakes his head. "Even if I let you do that, they are aware of our presence now. Walking in will not be easy."  
Chen shrugs. "It never is."  
"Do his ear-piece and contact still work?" Mary asks Alpha.  
Alpha presses a few buttons on the console, until he can see himself in the viewing sphere. Alpha looks at Chen, who is looking directly at him, so clearly the sphere is showing what Chen is seeing.  
"They do," Alpha replies.  
"Then let's not waste any more time," Chen orders. "Take me down!"


	11. Chapter 11

Energy, once again, engulfs Chen, only to (as he perceives it) go away after one second, revealing to him that his surroundings have changed.  
Although he knows he was being teleported, it is still something he has not gotten used to.  
He shakes his head, and looks around him.  
Tall trees surround him. Odd, he thinks to himself. He thought he was being transported to where these powerful wizards are. Shouldn't he be near a castle? Did Alpha type in the wrong coordinates?  
"Alpha, are you sure this is it?" he asks.  
A voice in his ear-piece replies. "This is as close to the location that I could bring you, without them detecting you."  
A sigh escapes his lips. This means he will have to find his way by himself.  
Past the trees, he can see a mountain. That is his best bet, he reasons with himself. If he could climb on top, he could get his bearings of the area, and find his way to the right place.  
As fast as he could, without making too much noise, he moves through the forest.  
A few meters away from the edge of the forest, and he can see the foot of the mountain. But even at this distance, he can see something move.  
Avoiding detection, he jumps behind a tree. From there, he tries to get a good look at what moved.  
Two men are pacing up and down, in front of an entrance to a cave. They are wearing white robes, and carrying spears.  
Why would people like this be guarding a cave? What could possibly be in there that needed guards?  
That's when a thought struck him. Not what. Who! This must be where these wizards are hiding.  
Not exactly a place where powerful rulers would want to be seen, but that is exactly why nobody would be looking for them there. It is the best hiding place.  
But even with this figured out, that still does not get him past the guards. How shall he do this?

A thud sounds, like a rock hitting dry mud. The white-robed guards turn their heads.  
There is nothing to see.  
The two exchange a glance. They shrug. It must have been a rabbit, or some other animal. They continue their pacing.  
A few seconds later, another thud is heard, this time sounding like something hitting the bushes.  
Both turn to look, this time at exactly the same bush.  
"You heard it too, didn't you?"  
The other one nodded. He raises his spear, and the first one follows his example.  
"Come on out, or there'll be trouble!"  
No reaction.  
The left guard motions to the right one to close in, slowly. The other nods.  
Slowly, they approach the bush, their eyes never leaving the plant in question.  
"Ouch!" the left guard feels something cutting him.  
He looks at his hands, and finds his spear missing. He only sees one cut on each of his hands. This helps him realize what must have happened. He was too focused on what was in front of him, he did not realize someone was pulling his spear out of his hand, and the sharp end must have cut him. But if someone can do that, it means someone must be behind him.  
Barely had the guard turned to look, and the first thing he sees is the blunt end of his spear, hitting him in the face.  
With the left guard down, the right one starts poking at the assailant with his spear. But the latter drops his own spear, grabs hold of the other spear's sharp end, chops it off with his bare hand, and stabs it into the guard's eye.  
With this one down, the first guard starts to regain consciousness. His eyes in a squint, he can see a foot kicking his head. He can only just feel a snap somewhere underneath his skull, just before the lights go out. Permanently.

Back in the TARDIS, Mary was able to watch all this.  
"These guards were a little too easy," she says. "Don't you think?"  
"There's a reason why they were," Chen explains. "Usually, the weakest warriors are at the entrance. The closer I get to our target, the stronger the guards will be."  
Mary nods. "Good thing you didn't overdo it here, then."  
"For now," Chen adds.  
Through his eyes, Mary can see him turning to look at the cave, and charging toward it.

The only illumination in the cave comes from torches. It may not be much, but it is enough for Chen to find his way through.  
The cave seems to be very straight-forward. Aside from a few curves and bents, there is only one way in which it is going. This looks easy.  
An echo sounds through the cave, making Chen stop abruptly. Was that a growl?  
"You heard it too?" he hears Mary ask him through his ear-piece, telling him that he did not imagine it.  
He nods his head, which he thinks should show on that viewing globe as the image is going up and down.  
Taking small and quiet steps, Chen moves closer.  
A slight gush of wind can be heard, thus he ducks.  
The sound of metal chopping through rock goes over his head.  
Chen rolls forward, and rises up again.  
He turns to look at who attacked him.  
A sword is stuck in the cave wall. And an oddly shaped one at that, since its pointed end is bent.  
At the hilt of the sword, he can see a man trying to pull it out.  
This man looks to be the same height as Chen, but twice as broad. He has pitch black skin, sharp teeth, and pointed ears. His appearance is reminiscent of a fairy, except this looks to be a more evil version of it.  
This Dark Fairy (for Chen doesn't know what else to call him) finally manages to pull his sword out, though doing so seems to give him a headache.  
The Dark Fairy turns his attention back to Chen, who tries a spin-kick on the Fairy.  
Though his head moves upon impact, the Dark Fairy is still standing, as though he barely felt the kick.  
A swing from his sword, forces Chen backward. He whistles relief, as the sword was one millimeter away from cutting him.  
The Dark Fairy groans, as if in pain. But he recovers quickly, and throws a punch at Chen.  
The latter ducks, and the Fairy only hits the cave wall behind Chen.  
Several small boulders crash down because of this. But as rocks hit other rocks, the Dark Fairy covers his ears, groaning louder and louder.  
Witnessing this, Chen realizes what is going on. This Dark Fairy cannot handle loud noises. He grins, as he now knows how to use this to his advantage.  
Chen opens his mouth, cries out a loud "YAAAAH".  
Unable to bear it, the Dark Fairy drops his sword, covering his ears, groaning even louder than before.  
Giving him no time to recover, Chen ducks down to the Dark Fairy's sword, picks it up, slices at the Fairy's belly, forcing him down, allowing Chen to slice the Fairy's head off.  
The head falls to the ground, rolls a little, until it is lying upside down, but his face is directed at Chen, with that same look of pain that he's had throughout much of the battle.  
That was a close call, Chen realizes to himself. This one might have been physically strong, but clearly not made for battle inside a cave, where loud noises don't move away. Somebody forgot to take that into account.  
With this behind him, Chen keeps the Dark Fairy's sword, and moves on.

As Mary is watching the screen, she notices it is slowly fading away.  
"Chen, what is going on?"  
The only response she gets is white noise.  
She looks at the screen again, and sees only static.  
"What's going on?"  
"He must be past the force field now," Zordon explains. "We cannot reach him anymore."  
Panicking, Mary turns to Alpha. "You must do something! Can't you boost the signals?"  
"It's already at its max," Alpha replies. "Sorry, Mary. There isn't any more we can do."  
Mary feels the need to sit down, but remembering that there is no chair for her to sit on, she only grows more frustrated, and kicks the TARDIS console, ignoring Zordon or Alpha's comments about her doing this.

Chen talks, but hears nothing from his ear-piece. He taps it, but still receives nothing. Could he be so deep inside the cave that his signals can no longer reach Zordon?  
A light passes him by, and explodes as it hits the wall. The shock forces Chen to fall down.  
While trying to pick himself up again, heavy footsteps are thudding toward him.  
Chen looks up. Standing over him is a man. Twice his own size, and heavily armored. His mask, which is almost lion-shaped, has blue lights, which Chen can only assume are his eyes.  
The tall man raises his right hand. On a device that is mounted around his wrist, a small light starts to glisten. The same sort of light he saw passing him by before. Chen roles around. Just in time as well, as he hears the same explosion from before hitting the ground.  
As swift as he can, he rises up, raises the Dark Fairy's sword, and plunges it down on the tall man.  
The armored man raises his wrist to stop the attack.  
The sword bounces off the wrist, upon which the armored being grabs Chen by the throat.  
Struggling to breath, Chen is picked off the ground.  
Using both of his hands, Chen tries to pry the hand off his neck.  
It is no use. The more he struggles, the more then hand seems to tighten. If he is to survive this at all, he will need a different strategy.  
He looks at this man. Why is he wearing that mask? Does he need it to breath? Only one way to find out.  
Chen tries to kick the man's mask, but the latter is too quick for him. He had a hold of Chen's leg before it can hit anything.  
A grin spreads over Chen's face. The armored man now has both his hands full. With one hand now held fast, Chen still has the other to use.  
He kicks the mask off the man.  
It was only a split-second, but it was enough. The man's real face looks like a skull, with some skin glued on it. Its eyes look dead, making Chen wonder how he is able to see with it.  
Within the aforementioned split-second, the now unmasked man let go of Chen, who still had a hold on the armored man's wrist-device. As he's let go, Chen pulls off the device, quickly puts it on his own wrist, and shoots the man in the face.  
The face pulverizes, after which the body falls backward.  
A laugh creeps up on Chen's face, but it fades away just as quickly. He did not pay attention to how long it took him to take this man down, but does not think it lasted much longer than a minute. On the one hand, that would mean he was able to defeat his enemy very quickly. On the other, the enemy was very swift with his actions. No hesitation, no need to prepare himself, no need to show off. This tall armored man just fired his shots, threw his punches, and left little to no time for anyone to breath (literally). If Chen was not so quick-witted, he would not have lasted very long.  
Chen shakes his head. The battle was quick, but that does not mean it was easy. That is one thing he should not underestimate.  
Still wearing the wrist-device, and picking up the Dark Fairy's sword, Chen presses on.

Finally, Chen reaches a wide open space, that looks like a hall.  
Here, there are three men. One in heavy, medieval-looking armor, and carrying a large sword. On his right hand, worn over the huge armor-glove, there is a ring, which seems to have a strange sort of glow about it.  
Another man is in robes, almost priest-like. But unlike most priests Chen has seen, this one is wearing large bracelets around his wrists.  
The third man, if indeed it is a man, looks like a ghost wearing a black robe and a hood.  
"You dare interrupt Anubis' great alliance?" the robed ghost points at Chen as it speaks, with a distorted voice.  
The armored one turns to the ghost. "We have not yet decided if we want to ally with you."  
"Why don't you just admit you don't want me to take your power, Sauron!" the one with braces laughs.  
Chen grins. Now he knows that the ghost is called Anubis, the one in armor is Sauron, and thus the last one must be the Lord Ruler.  
"I am impressed," speaks Anubis. "Taking down those two men, a child could do that. The Orc, while exceptionally strong, is still pitiful. To take down my Kull Warrior..."  
"Pitiful?" Sauron interrupts Anubis. "You dare mock a member of my army?"  
Sensing an opportunity, Chen fires a shot from his wrist-device.  
A small orb of light flies toward the three.  
Sauron is hit on the back, but does not react. Did he even feel it.  
"Is that the best you got?" the Lord Ruler clearly saw this.  
He bends down to the ground, picks up a rock and throws it at Chen.  
Throwing a rock, Chen thinks to himself. Is he serious?  
The rock flies across the hall, but mid-flight, its velocity increases. Instantly, the rock shoots through the air, hitting Chen in the shoulder.  
The impact causes Chen to spin around, losing his balance, and falling to the floor.  
A laugh from the Lord Ruler, makes Chen turn his head toward him.  
He witnesses the Ruler picking up a few more rocks, but Sauron lays his hand on the Ruler's shoulder, signaling him to stop.  
"I will take care of him," his voice is more a growl than it is anything else.  
Marching toward Chen, Sauron raises his sword.  
Chen, realizing what is about to happen, waits before he can strike.  
The sword whizzes down, but once it is within reach, Chen tightens his grip on the Dark Fairy's sword, swings it up, and cuts through Sauron's right arm.  
A cry resonates from Sauron. But it's an odd one, as it slowly changes into a more crackling sound, as if his voice is on fire.  
Slowly, Sauron's armor crashes into itself, forcing Chen to roll away.  
Getting up, he sees black ash seeping out through every crevice of Sauron's armor, until it just collapses. As if whoever, or whatever was in there had just burned up in a matter of seconds.  
"One arm chopped off, and he is dust," Anubis says. "To think I was considering allying myself with him."  
Chen's eyes fall on something else.  
Underneath the armor, among the ash, something is glistening. Could it be a weapon he can use against the other two?  
The Lord Ruler notices Chen's gaze, and follows it. He notices the glistening thing as well. He points his hand to the rock he threw before, and with one swing of his arm, he makes it fly toward Chen, pushing him toward himself.  
Feeling himself being pushed, Chen searches for what is doing this. He finds the rock. How is this possible, he asks himself. How can this rock move or fly on its own?  
Chen shakes his head, and places his hands on the rock, pushing it away from himself.  
To his surprise, a hand grabs hold of Chen's arm, and pulls him away.  
As a reflex, Chen spins backward, trying to punch his elbow into his assailant's face.  
His elbow hit... nothing? He feels with his elbow, but finds nothing at all. He turns his head.  
This is the first time he sees Anubis this close. Underneath his hood, there is nothing at all. Safe for something that looks like mist. Who, or what, is this Anubis?  
"Do not interfere!" the Lord Ruler exclaims.  
He raises his hands to Anubis. The latter raises his one free hand, to cover his head-area.  
Nothing happens.  
Anubis lowers his hand. "What makes you think your powers can compare to that of your one true god Anubis?"  
A snarl escapes the Lord Ruler's mouth. "Your suit may be made of materials I cannot bend to my will..."  
He pauses, as he pushes his bracelets further up his sleeves. "But can it withstand this?"  
The Lord Ruler stretches his arms at his sides. As he does so, Chen senses a slight tremor at his feet. As the Lord Ruler raises his arms, the tremors increase. Even Anubis shifts his head from one side to another, confused about what is going on.  
A confusion that Chen can use to his advantage, as he can pull free from Anubis his grasp.  
Free at last, Chen does some quick thinking. The Lord Ruler pushes his bracelets up before doing what he is doing. Why would he do that? Are they somehow important to what he is doing?  
As fast as he can, Chen runs to the Lord Ruler. What with him being preoccupied making the cave quake, he does not stop Chen when he takes one bracelet and pulls it off his arm. Once that is off, then the Lord Ruler responds. He lowers his arms, ready to punch Chen, but this only allows the latter easy access to his other bracelet, which he pulls off as well.  
"NO!" the Lord Ruler cries. "Give them ba..."  
As he spoke, his voice sounded more tired. And even before he could finish his sentence, wrinkles had already started to appear, and worsen with every fraction of a second. His hair loses its color, and starts falling down. His hands are becoming thinner, until all the flesh is gone. Before Chen fully realizes what is happening before him, the Lord Ruler has already become a skeleton in robes, that falls down, breaking apart with the impact.  
"Well done," Anubis says.  
Chen turns to the only remaining opponent in the room.  
"I was hoping to form an alliance with these two so I can control their armies," Anubis further explains. "But now that they are neutralized, I can simply claim their armies as my own."  
Chen makes his stance, where he holds his hand in front of him, wagging it while shaking his head.  
"Juvenile," Anubis says, as he moves toward Sauron's remains. "Not to worry. I can help you be rid of that."  
Chen notices where Anubis is heading. A thought crosses his mind because of it. He saw something glisten in Sauron's ashes, and when he tried to reach for it, the Lord Ruler stopped him. Now Anubis is heading toward the ashes himself. What is so important about Sauron's remains that they are both interested in it? Whatever it is, Chen realizes, it cannot be good.  
Wanting to stop Anubis to find what he's looking for, Chen runs toward the robed figure, takes a leap, and raises his legs for a kick.  
But Anubis, who was not even paying attention to Chen, bends down to pick something up, thus Chen flies over him.  
Realizing just in time that he missed, Chen tries finding his footing, and though he stumbles a little, he manages to land on his two feet.  
A quick spin, and he witnesses Anubis rising up again, holding something in his hand.  
Sauron's ring. It had a strange glow when he was wearing it, and it still does. Thinking about it, Chen remembers that he chopped off Sauron's arm, and that was when he turned to ash. Was it the arm that wore the ring? And did he die because he chopped it off? Much like what happened to the Lord Ruler when Chen pulled off his bracelets? If so, why is Anubis only interested in Sauron's ring, but not in the Lord Ruler's bracelets?  
Whatever the case, Chen cannot let Anubis have this ring.  
Once again, he charges toward Anubis, throws a punch. And though it lands on Anubis' head, the latter does not react. Chen tries kicking him. And though it hit Anubis' legs, he again gives no reaction.  
"Physical attacks will only serve to damage my suit," Anubis explains. "But will not harm me."  
What can he mean by that, Chen wonders. That he's weak without the suit?  
As he contemplates his next move, Anubis puts the ring on his right-hand finger.  
"Ah, yes..." Anubis sounds exhilarated. "I can feel its power... flowing through me... making me... more..."  
He stops then. His suit convulses, as if he is having an epileptic fit.  
"What... is... happening..." he can barely bring himself to say the words.  
Chen witnesses as Anubis is trying to pull the ring off his hand, but is unable to.  
"NO! NO NO NO!"  
The mist that can be seen underneath Anubis' hood begins to crackle, as if there is electricity in there. With every next second, the electricity only intensifies.  
Chen may not fully understand what is happening before him, but he knows enough to realize he'd better get as much distance between himself and Anubis right now.  
He turns to the exit and runs as fast as he can.  
Behind him, he can hear Anubis, crying out in what sounds like agony, followed immediately by an explosion. One that is strong enough to force Chen to the ground.

"Chen?" an all too familiar voice calls into his ear. "Chen, can you hear me?"  
Pushing himself up, and shaking his head, Chen waits to reply.  
"Chen, answer me, damn it!"  
"Mary!"  
Both are relieved to hear each others' voice.  
"Are you all right?" she asks him. "We detected an explosion, just before the shield went down."  
Chen takes a look at his body. There are a few new cuts from the rock he fell onto, and with the explosion he felt, he may have some wounds on his back, even if he doesn't feel it. But he cannot see what is on his back. So he is not lying when he replies.  
"I think so."  
"Ready to be teleported out?"  
"Please do."


	12. Chapter 12

Barely has the energy used to transport him dissipated, or Mary has already flung her arms around him, happy to see him in one piece still.  
"What happened in there?" Zordon asks him.  
As much as Chen wants to cherish this little moment with his wife, he has no choice but to let her go, and answer Zordon's question.  
Chen explains to him everything that happened after the communication cut off. About him meeting with what Sauron called an Orc, fighting Anubis' heavily armored soldier, his cutting of Sauron's arm, tearing off the Lord Ruler's bracelets, how both he and Anubis were interested in Sauron's ring, but the Lord Ruler died before he could get to it, and how Anubis exploded after putting on Sauron's ring.  
"I think I understand what happened," Zordon said. "The Lord Ruler is able to burn metals. In doing so, he is granted many abilities. Such as his telekinesis which you witnessed. He must have thought that if he burned Sauron's ring, it will give him more powers."  
"Why?" Chen asks. "What's so special about that ring?"  
"As Sauron forged it," Zordon explains, "he put all of his ambitions, all his power, all his evil into the ring. Making it the most powerful object to have ever been created."  
Mary chuckles. "I can just see some of girls I went to high school with fighting over that thing."  
Zordon ignores Mary's remark, and continues. "Anubis must have thought the same thing, which is why he was after the ring too. However, he didn't count on the ring having a mind of its own, and thus rejected its new owner. The ring, meanwhile didn't count on Anubis being just as stubborn. Thus the two canceled each other out."  
"Unknown vessel, kree!" a voice sounds over the viewing sphere.  
Everyone turns to look at it.  
In the sphere, they see a dark-skinned man, wearing a golden armor, and a golden hairless wig, sitting on what looks like a throne.  
"Who's that?" Mary asks.  
"Behold Apophis," Zordon answers.  
"What is the meaning of this?" Apophis asks.  
"What is the meaning of what?" Zordon replies.  
"In the middle of battle, the Final Imperialists just stopped fighting," Apophis answers.  
"Well, isn't that good?" Chen replies. "Makes it easier for you to kill them."  
"They stopped fighting, because they lost the will to fight," Apophis explains. "This must mean that the man they were fighting for is dead. I know it cannot be the false god Sokar, as he is elsewhere on the planet. And it cannot be Anubis, as he would be gloating about his victory now. Which leaves you."  
"Zordon," Alpha cuts in. "Someone else is trying to reach us."  
"Put them through," Zordon tells him.  
Apophis opens his mouth to protest, but Alpha's change of channel is too quick for him.  
Now, someone else is on screen. One with black veins, visible through his pale skin, wearing a dark-red robe, letting his fingers hover over a small candle.  
"Zordon," he hisses. "I should have known."  
"What do you want from me, Sokar?" Zordon asks him.  
"My men were winning the fight with Sauron's forces," the pale man, Sokar, tells him. "The land of Mordor was mine for the taking. But then, completely unexpected, all the lands imploded. It could not have been done by Goa'uld weapons, as I saw no fire raining from the sky. But you, Zordon, you have access to magic that eludes even me."  
"I do not take credit for someone else's actions," Zordon explains. "That is for the Goa'uld to do."  
Sokar grins. "Insolence will neither save you nor anger me."  
"Look," Mary stands between Zordon and the viewing screen. "What's it matter if we had anything to do with it or not? This means that the planet has lost its master, and now it's up to you to conquer it."  
Zordon's jaw drops at the sound of that.  
Sokar frowns. "You do not wish to claim this planet?"  
Mary shakes her head. "We don't. But your friend in golden armor does."  
A look of recognition spreads across Sokar's face. "Apophis."  
"We've got him on the other line," Mary tells him. "Want us to connect you with him?"  
Sokar lowers his head, allowing the shadow of his hood to cover his face, making his grin seem more ominous than it really is. "You are doing your god a great service. I might make you queen of Natu."  
Mary shrugs, then turns to Alpha. "Alpha, connect the two."  
Though a robot, and thus cannot feel cold, Alpha shivers at the thought. "Do you know what you're doing?"  
"Yes, I do!" Mary snaps at him. "Now connect them!"  
With tremulous hands, Alpha presses a few buttons.  
On the viewing screen, they see how it is being split up, showing the two men.  
"Kree, Apophis," Sokar's voice sounds demanding.  
"What do you want from me?" Apophis asks.  
"I should be asking you," Sokar says. "What brings you to this planet?"  
Apophis bites his teeth. "I believed you may need my assistance."  
"Even if I required your assistance at all, I do not anymore," Sokar replies. "Sauron's forces are already defeated."  
Upon hearing the news, Apophis tries to hide his fear as to what this might mean. "Congratulations."  
Sokar's grin widens. "No need to grovel. I can sense you're intimidated."  
Chen frowns at this. "Are these guys always so melodramatic?"  
"Why should I be intimidated?" Apophis asks him.  
"Because you know that I now command Sauron's army," Sokar says. "An army, consisting of strong, nearly invincible men."  
"Didn't he just say Sauron's forces imploded?" Alpha asks.  
"He must be bluffing," Chen says. "It's the oldest trick to make your opponent fear you."  
This time, it is Apophis' turn to smile. "An army is only as strong as its leader."  
Sokar raises the piece of flesh where his brow would be. "What do you mean by that?"  
Apophis turns to someone off screen. "Pilot, kree!"  
A fraction of a second later, Apophis' image disappears. Sokar's remains, only for long enough to see sparks flying. That's when his image disappears as well.  
Mary smiles. "Now we've got the two warlords fighting among themselves over this territory."  
As a means of showing appreciation, Chen rubs Mary's back. "I knew there was a reason why I married you."  
Mary blushes, but Zordon cuts this tender moment short. "I am sorry to interrupt, but it will be a matter of time before the Goa'uld ships start firing at us.  
The married couple groan at this. Mary turns to Zordon. "Which way do we go this time?"  
"Alpha, transfer the coordinates to the Marveller's computer," Zordon commands him.  
"Yessir, Zordon," he replies, and does exactly as told.  
With the coordinates sent, the Marveller can plot a course, and fly through space again, out of the crossfire between the two Goa'uld lords.

Both Chen and Mary take a few seconds to catch their breaths.  
"I don't know if what you did was very smart, or very dangerous," Zordon tells Mary.  
Mary snorts. "How do you like that. We do exactly as we're asked, and he berates us for doing so."  
Chen nods. "You sure you're not a Goa'uld yourself?"  
Zordon' eyes widen, but Mary is the one to answer. "I don't think so. I haven't heard him say "kree" in every sentence yet."  
This makes Chen raise his brows. "Yes, about that," he turns to Zordon. "What does "kree" mean?"  
There is a pause before he answers. And when he finally answers, there is a hint of discomfort. "There is no word for it in any language you know. That's why it wasn't translated."  
"You know," Mary interjects, "that's the second time you're saying that. What is translating?"  
"Did you think that everyone we've met just so happens to speak your language?" Alpha questions her.  
The married couple exchanges glances. Neither had stopped to think about this.  
"The TARDIS creates a telepathic link with all its passengers," Zordon explains. "Doing so, allows you to hear other people are saying in terms that you can understand. Or makes you think you're speaking your own language, when really you're speaking theirs."  
Chen thinks about this for a second. He taps Mary on the shoulder, who then turns back to him.  
"Is this true?"  
Mary, surprised at the question, replies. "How should I know?"  
Chen's jaw drops. "I thought you didn't know any Cantonese."  
Her eyes squint at this. "What are you talking about?"  
A snicker escapes Chen's mouth. "What do you mean? I just asked you something in Cantonese, and you replied in the same language."  
"No you didn't," Mary shakes her head. "And no, I didn't!"  
"Mary," Zordon interrupts. "Do you happen to know any language other than English?"  
She shrugs. "Well, I know Hungarian, and I speak a little French. But..."  
"Try some of that," he tells her. "You'll see."  
Mary laughs. "If you insist. But I don't think it'll work."  
"Try it anyway," Chen tells her. "Say something in Hungarian."  
This makes Mary frown. "You know Hungarian, too?"  
Chen shakes his head.  
Alpha laughs. "See? What did we tell you?"  
Mary brings her hand to her head, as though suffering a migraine. "This is too weird."  
Chen shrugs. "It makes things a lot easier."  
"Of course, the TARDIS is only one of many translation methods," Zordon continues. "The people from the United Federation use universal translators, while the people from the Peacekeeper territory have translator-microbes, and galactic hitchhikers use what they call babelfish."  
"Translators aplenty," Alpha quips.  
"So wherever we are in the universe," Chen tries to see if he understands this correctly, "we'll always be understood."  
"In theory, yes," is Zordon's answer.  
This makes Chen raise his brow. "What does that mean?"  
Mary laughs. "They may understand our words, but it remains to be seen if they understand our intentions."  
Chen sighs. "There is always that."  
He then looks out the windshield, where he sees them traveling through the stars at hyper-speed.  
"So where are we going this time?"  
"The planet Soros," Zordon answers. "A planet that orbits the Betelgeuse star. Last we heard, the Ultramen and Green Lantern Corps have failed to protect the planet from an army of Locusts."  
Another exchange of glances between Mary and Chen.  
"I'm sure it will make more sense when we see it for ourselves," Mary tells him.  
A muffled cry echoes through the TARDIS console room.  
"Was that Reese?" Chen wonders.  
"Something must be wrong," Mary says, just as she makes to leave the room, and Chen follows after her.  
As soon as they are gone, the console beeps. Alpha, startled at the sound, turns to look.  
"That's weird," he remarks. "It looks like the TARDIS is losing power."  
"Bizarre, indeed," Zordon agrees. "Did we spring a leak during battle?"  
"If we did, it should be the Marveller that's losing power," Alpha explained. "Not the TARDIS."  
Alpha presses a few more buttons, but gives up after a few tries.  
"I better go check it out."


	13. Chapter 13

Mary opens the door, only to close it again. Somehow, a chair was flying through the air, and heading toward the door. Lucky for Mary, she saw it within the split second of opening the door. Even after the loud crash, she still waits for five seconds before entering the room.  
"What is going on here?"  
"Nothing!" Reese shouts. "Nothing at all happens here! It's so boring here!"  
Mary looks at her husband, who just shrugs.  
"Maybe we should have let her watch what was going on with me."  
His wife nods.  
"You?" this somehow caught Reese's attention. "What were you doing?"  
"Whatever needed to be done to stop the wars," Mary explained.  
"Can I come along next time?" Reese eyes suddenly gleam, as though is trying her best puppy-dog eyes look.  
"There are people outside who want you dead," Chen replies. "We can't take you with us if we want to."  
The puppy-dog look shifts into that of a rabid dog, as she screams. "You're killing me by keeping me here!"  
Mary guffaws at that. "Nobody ever really died of boredom."  
"Not that!" Reese shouts back. "I can feel them killing me! I see what they're seeing, and then nothing at all!"  
Mary frowns, which Chen shares. Who, or what, is she talking about?  
Assuming Reese is just being over-emotional, Mary reaches out to her. She lays her hand on the small woman's shoulder.  
"Don't touch me!"  
She slaps Mary's hand away. Though from an outsider's perspective, it looked like a mere slap, but Mary cries in agony, as if her hand just got beaten by jackhammer.  
Instinctively, Chen rushes toward Reese. "Keep your hands off her!"  
Reese thrusts her hands up to stop Chen. When his torso and her hands impact, Chen feels a strong force, thrusting him backward, until he hits the wall.  
"Leave him alone!" Mary rushes toward Reese.  
The latter raises her hand, grabbing hold of Mary's jaw.  
"Why are you two attacking me?" tears are welling up in Reese's eyes. "Tell me!"  
Mary would love to answer, but it's difficult with someone grabbing her jaw like this.  
"Why aren't you answering me!?"  
A loud shout travels from Chen's direction. Reese has only one second to look in his direction, when his fist hits her in the area between her ribs and her belly. Where, according to Mary's medical knowledge, her solar plexus should be. This instantly slackens her grip on Mary's jaw, and makes her drop her hand. Reese is still standing up, but her knees are trembling, and her feet are unsteady.  
Chen lays his hands on Mary's shoulders. "Are you all right?"  
She nods. "Better get out of here."  
In agreement, he nods as well. They both turn to the door and leave.

Shutting the door behind them, the two discuss what just happened.  
"Do you know what to make of her?" Mary asks her husband.  
He shakes his head. "Even that purple woman we met before wasn't much stronger than her size would allow her to be."  
Mary rubs her jaw at this. "What about the things she says?"  
"About seeing through other people's eyes?"  
"Not just that," Mary replies. "She actually thought we were attacking her."  
Chen sighs. "And people have called ME emotionally unstable."  
Almost as though she could hear the accusation, a loud pounding on the door sounds through the corridor.  
Startled at this, it takes a while for either of them to realize what is happening.  
They see the door to Reese's room, vibrating with every pound, denting at the points where it is being hit.  
The thought occurs to both of them that Reese can just turn the doorknob, but both of them are afraid of saying it out loud, as she might be able to hear it, and give her an idea.  
"Do you still have your ear piece?" Mary asks Chen?  
He nods, thus she speaks into his ear. "Zordon, can you hear me?"  
After a few seconds, Chen responds. "He hears you."  
"Can you put a force field around Reese's room?"  
She waits a few seconds before her husband relays what Zordon is telling him. "He wants to know why."  
"Never mind why," Mary nearly screams. "Just do it!"  
"He'd love to," Chen repeats after Zordon. "But he can't reach the console."  
Mary opens her mouth again, but Chen has more words from Zordon to rely. "He would let Alpha do it, but he's out of the room, checking something."  
"He's never here when you need him!" Mary groans.

While they're talking, Alpha has reached what he was looking for. He cocks his head from side to side.  
What am I looking at, he asks himself.  
There is a hole in the wall before him. His first thought is acid, but then who would throw acid on the wall?  
A closer look shows scratches around the hole. Did something try to scratch its way through?  
Looking past the hole, he sees the wiring of the TARDIS. Most of it is cut, and no sparks are coming out. This must be where the energy is lost.  
He turns around, only to find another such spot on the opposite wall. How many more of these are there, he asks himself.  
To have a full grasp on the problem, Alpha decides to go down the corridor, and count all the spots.  
There are two now. As he walks further down, he find a third. And a fourth. A fifth...  
When he reaches twenty-seven, he freezes at the sight of the twenty-eighth.  
There, he finds the very cause of all this. One silver machine, with four spidery legs, scratching its way through the wall.  
"Aye-aye-aye-aye-aye!" he turns, and runs as fast as his robot body allows him. "Replicators! Replicators!"  
As he screams, he unwittingly draws the attention of more of these Replicators. Around the corner, more of the same silver bugs come crawling, and chase after the saucer-headed robot.

Even before Alpha reaches Chen and Mary, they can hear his constant proclamations of "Aye-aye-aye."  
Both turn their heads.  
From around the corner, Alpha comes running.  
"Run away!" he shouts. "There're Replicators!"  
The married couple does not have the time to react to the news, as they see some things chasing after Alpha. They move too quickly for them to fully take in what they look like, but one glance is enough to realize that Alpha is being chased by mechanical insects.  
Chen hurries toward Alpha, pulls his arms, and helps him move faster.  
Mary, helping her husband, notices that Reese has stopped pounding the door. She shakes her head, and continues on.

When they reach the console room, Alpha does not waste any time. He immediately reaches for the console, presses a few buttons, creating a force field at the door.  
"What is going on, Alpha?" Zordon asks.  
"Replicators!" Alpha is still in a state of shock. "They are eating up the TARDIS!"  
A look of shock forms on Zordon's face. But Chen is still left with one question. "What are these... Replicators?"  
"They are advanced machines," Zordon explains. "Created with the sole purpose of creating more of themselves. As they do, they consume technologies and knowledge of other races. Becoming stronger, more intelligent and more powerful in the process."  
Upon hearing this explanation, Mary turns to look at the door.  
"What's wrong?" Chen asks her.  
"We left Reese in there," she explains.  
"You did what?!" Zordon exclaims. "You left an innocent civilian alone in there?"  
"Why isn't she crying?" Mary asks. "Chen, you've seen what she's like. Shouldn't we be hearing her screaming as she sees them?"  
Chen thinks about this. "You are right. This is odd."  
"Maybe they destroyed her instantly," Zordon says. "Because you did not protect her."  
"I'm not so sure," Mary turns to Alpha. "Can you show us what's happening to her?"  
Alpha whines. "I'm not sure I want to see what those monsters are doing to her."  
"Do it!" Chen orders him to.  
Still reluctant, Alpha presses a few buttons, until an image shows on the viewing screen.  
As requested, they are looking at Reese. To Zordon and Alpha's surprise, however, she is kneeling at the Replicators, petting them, as though they are her pets.  
"So that's why she became quiet when they were coming for us," Mary says.  
"You think she is somehow controlling these Replicators?" Chen asks her.  
"That explains the Ultra King's words," Alpha realizes. "Reese is that dangerous criminal he was talking about!"  
"Then that armored man you met was trying to stop you from helping her," Zordon further realizes.  
Mary and Chen are sharing a confused look. What are these two talking about?  
Chen shakes his head. "Never mind any of that. Is there any way we can stop these Replicators?"  
"There might be," Zordon says. "Thor, a friend of ours, mentioned that ray-guns wouldn't help us, but projectile-based weapons would."  
"Projectile?" Mary questions. "Like guns?"  
"That is correct, Mary," Zordon confirms.  
"Unfortunately, the TARDIS doesn't have any of those on board," Alpha groans.  
Chen looks at the viewing screen.  
On it, he witnesses the Replicators have made it to the console room door. One such Replicator jumps at the door, but is immediately zapped by the force field. As that happens, Reese bends over, as if she just felt the pain this caused the Replicator.  
"Did you see that?" Chen asks nobody in particular.  
"I did," Mary replies. "Reese seemed to feel the Replicator's pain."  
This pauses her to think. "Wait a minute. Didn't she mention something about seeing what others are seeing? How she was basically seeing them being killed?"  
"You're making it sound as if she's connected to these bugs," Alpha says.  
"Of course!" Zordon just had a revelation. "Reese is not just friendly with the Replicators. She must be their source."  
"How will that help us?" Chen asks.  
"This means that if we destroy her," Zordon explains, "then we'd destroy all Replicators in the universe."  
Chen rubs his knuckles at the thought. "I'm already on it."  
Mary steps between him and the door. "Wait! You can't."  
Upon his frowning, Mary elaborates. "If she is the source, those things will protect her at all costs. You won't get within a mile of her."  
"Aye-aye-aye!" Alpha whines again. "What do we do?"  
Only a few seconds of thought before Chen speaks again. "How about destroying the TARDIS?"  
"The TARDIS?" Zordon's voice raises an octave. "We won't be able to travel instantly anymore."  
"Does it look like we have a choice?" Mary questions. "The Marveller's slow engines will have to do."  
Zordon sighs. "Very well. Alpha, set the self-destruct on ten minutes. And the teleportation at nine."  
"Teleportation?" Chen asks. "What for?"  
"To take the TARDIS outside the ship, before it explodes," Zordon answers.  
Alpha presses a few buttons. Waits. Cocks his head, then presses the same buttons again.  
"Zordon," he says. "I can't activate the self-destruct."  
"As I feared," Zordon says. "The self-destruct is usually dismantled first, for obvious reasons."  
"Does teleportation still work?" Mary asks.  
"It does," Alpha says. "But if you're thinking of simply abandoning the ship, we'll only be giving the Replicators all the technology they need to grow more powerful."  
"So using the emergency transporter in my tube is not an option either," Zordon says.  
"Emergency transporter?" Chen asks.  
"It's what allows me, and everyone in contact with me, to be transported safely," Zordon answers. "But again, we cannot use that."  
"Wait a minute!" Mary has an idea. "What about the Marveller's self-destruct? That should still work?"  
"It should," Zordon admits. "But it's a less advanced than the TARDIS. Its destructive power may not be enough."  
"What if we raise the oxygen levels?" Mary suggests. "Both here and in the Marveller? Any small explosion would be intensified. And if we leave the TARDIS doors open, the explosion will enter in here, and destroy everything."  
Zordon thinks about this. "Very well. Alpha, raise the oxygen levels."  
"Chen, we better do the same with the Marveller," Mary tells him, and he nods.

While Alpha presses a few buttons, Chen and Mary leave the TARDIS, into the Marveller's cockpit. There, Chen starts pressing a few buttons.  
"The oxygen is rising," he says, with a slight undertone, while continuing to press a few more buttons. "You do know that if we do this, we're destroying the place that has been our home for the last few years."  
"Yes, that thought occurred to me," Mary's words sounded like a moan. "I don't like it any more than you do."  
Chen clicks his tongue. "This is exactly why we left Earth in the first place. No matter where we went, there was always someone who wanted to take away our homes."  
"Sacrificing our home is one thing," Mary tells him. "We can always find another."  
"Not likely," Chen replies. "After our last caper, security must have tightened by now."  
Mary nods. "You're right. Not to mention that if we can somehow end these wars, they may grant us a new ship. But it will have a transponder, so they can always find us no matter where we go."  
She grabs hold of Chen's hand as she says the following. "I just hope we won't have to sacrifice each other."  
Chen tightens his grip on her hand. "I hope we don't. But I fear we might have to one day."  
"If we sacrifice that much," Mary reasons, "then what will there be left living for?"  
"I hate to interrupt your moment," Alpha calls from the console room. "But the force field is failing!"  
Realizing they have little time for anything else, the two rush back into the console room.

Once they have returned, Zordon commands his robot assistant. "Alpha, open every door in the TARDIS. Except for the console room door. Put the force field on a timer, set it on ten seconds before the self-destruct."  
"Yes, Zordon," Alpha does exactly as he's ordered.  
Once he is done with that, he rushes to Zordon's tube. There, he opens a small compartment at the bottom, which has only one big red button there.  
A soft crackling sounds from the door. The force field doesn't have that much longer.  
Mary raises her hand, to talk into her wrist-device. "Marveller, set the self-destruct on fifteen seconds."  
Hearing this, Zordon barks his orders. "Everyone, place your hands on the tube!"  
Both Mary and Chen do exactly that. Alpha keeps only one hand on the tube, while using the other to press the red button.  
Within a split-second of pushing the button, the Replicators break through the door, making room for Reese to enter. They can only just see the contemptuous sneer on her face as they are engulfed with energy, and teleported away.  
Reese screams out loud, just as she heard another voice from outside the TARDIS say: "Five. Four. Three. Two. One."  
An explosion can be heard. However, because of the raised oxygen levels, the fire of the Marvellers explosion is not only intensified, it also enters the TARDIS, where the fire is exacerbated.  
One second of the heat is enough to cause Reese great pain. "Stop it! Stop burning!"  
Oddly, it does exactly that. It no longer burns her. She can see her skin, dripping off her arm. She's not burning anymore, she is melting.  
She screams, but the air around her is on fire. The sound burns along with her.


	14. Chapter 14

A carpeted floor. That is the first thing both Chen and Mary feel under their feet. The TARDIS floor doesn't have carpets, so this must mean that they are somewhere else. They both sigh, relieved.  
Their relief does not last long, as they hear a sharp click.  
"Did you hear that, too?" Mary asks her husband.  
He nods, and turns around.  
On the side of Zordon's tube, there is one mechanical bug left.  
Chen raises his hands, ready for combat, and the Replicator responds in kind by jumping.  
Barely has it lifted off one centimeter, or it falls down already, splitting apart.  
Squinting his eyes at what he just saw, Chen takes a closer look.  
The Replicator did not just fall apart. It looked more like each individual component of the machine is torn apart. What was once a functional machine, is now a heap of dust.  
Zordon, turning his head to look, notices the same heap. "Looks like it worked. With Reese destroyed, so are the Replicators."  
"Pardon me," an old man's voice suddenly rings through the area.  
Both Chen and Mary shift their heads, to find out where that came from.  
This is the first time they got a chance to look at where they had arrived. There is one huge screen, which is off now. There are two computer desks in front of that screen, but one huge computer covering the wall behind them. Surrounding them are people, wearing the same clothes. Half of them wear yellow, the other wears red, and only one of them wears blue. All of them were staring at the newcomers. They all have a badge at the left side of their chest. Among these people, there is one who has yellow, plastic skin. Another with dark skin, and a golden visor. The one in blue is a woman with dark eyes. That woman sits in a chair. One of three in the middle of the room. The middle chair is empty, as the old man who sat in it is standing up.  
"What is the meaning of this?" the old man speaks again.  
"Jean-Luc," Zordon speaks. "A pleasure to see you again."  
The old man, apparently named Jean-Luc, smiles. "Zordon. So you finally decided to use the emergency transporter we provided you with."  
"I have, indeed," Zordon replies.  
"Then I take it that the universal conflicts have gone from appalling to worse," the old man says.  
"Excuse me," Mary interjects. "Who are you? And where are we?"  
"Ah, forgive me," the old man replies. "I assume all of this is new to you. I am Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the Federation's Universal Starship Enterprise."  
"And why are we here?" Chen asks.  
"It's what the transporter is programmed to do," Alpha explains. "In case of an emergency, it transports us to a friendly vessel."  
"But instead it brought us to a Federation ship," Mary complains.  
This makes every crew member exchange worried looks.  
"You're enemies to the Federation, then?" the younger, bearded man who sits next to Picard speaks.  
"More like the other way around," Chen replies.  
"I fear," Zordon interrupts, "there is a lot to discuss. Can we talk in your conference room?"  
Picard nods. "Of course. Number One, escort our guests."  
"I'd love to, Captain," the bearded man says, "But how are we supposed to carry the large head?"  
Picard turns to the man with plastic skin. "Data, can you transport Zordon to the conference room?"  
"Yes, Captain," is the reply from one called Data.  
Picard takes one look at Chen, then adds to Number One's list of orders. "And ask Dr. Crusher if she would like join as well."

In the conference room, Picard sits at the table, joined by a large humanoid, one whose forehead has its own rib-cage, wearing a sash over his yellow shirt. Data was there as well, joined by a woman in a blue coat, who is examining Chen, with great protest of Mary. Both women being doctors, they argue over what is and is not best for the man, who ends up sitting at the table, just so he won't have to be part of their discussion.  
At the opposite end of the room, stands Zordon's tube, which is still attended to by Alpha.  
Hours pass by to explain what brought them to the Enterprise. Partly because every time someone mentions the word "replicator", Picard and associates think of something else.  
"One thing I still don't understand," Chen wonders, "is why we were told that Reese could end the wars."  
"It was probably the Replicators' logic," Zordon reasons, "that if they had made more of themselves, they would have formed a large enough army to conquer it all. But their lives still depended on her. So it was in their best interests she survived."  
"Creating one near omnipotent force that controls the universe," there is a sense of distaste when Picard said this.  
Mary snickers. "Because the Federation would neeeeever do that."  
Trying to avoid an argument, the other doctor in the room asks a question. "Then why did her captors not just kill her, and be done with it?"  
"Yes," the big man growls. "It is the sort of dishonorable act that this Empire is capable of."  
"Perhaps the Empire believed they could control these mechanical insects through her," Data deduces.  
"Whatever the case," Zordon continues, "with her gone, so is the threat of the Replicators."  
Picard blinks his eyes, still having to adjust to Zordon's meaning of the word. He shakes his head, and adds to this. "The fruits of your labors have certainly been felt throughout the universe."  
"What do you mean?" Chen asks.  
"We have received reports of the Judoon, the Peacekeepers and the Galactic Forces attacking planets from each others' territories," Picard explains.  
"And I have intercepted a communication from the Goa'uld system lord Apophis," Data says. "He's laid claim on a new planet, which has lost its rulers."  
"So instead of the two killing each other, one has won over the other," Mary realizes.  
"There have also been unconfirmed reports that Apophis is now in control of Anubis' Kull Warriors," Data adds.  
"And I have read doctor reports from people who say they have been attacked by Cylons," the doctor brings up. "Except their wounds are consistent with those sustained by Borg- and Cybermen- weapons."  
"Thank you, Doctor Crusher," Picard replies.  
"So in other words," Zordon summarizes this, "everything we have done has only exacerbated the situation."  
"It appears so," Picard acknowledges. "If I wasn't a philanthropist, I would almost wish to simply end it all."  
"Maybe it should," Chen remarks.  
All heads are raised, and looking in Chen's direction.  
"Or maybe," Mary suggests, "we should, at least, let people believe we are going to end it all. Just give them a reason to stop all the fighting, force them to talk it out. Give us a reason not to wipe them all out."  
"Appalling," Picard says. "Nobody should have such power."  
Mary stifles a laugh.  
"We may not have a choice," Zordon reasons. "We were already on our last resort."  
"Even if I agreed to this," Picard questions, "what do you plan to do?"  
"I may know something," Mary says. "I have heard of one doomsday weapon, that was made during an earlier war. If we can get our hands on that, maybe that should give people enough of an incentive."  
"Captain," the big man growls, "are we seriously considering such methods?"  
"May I remind you," Data starts, "that if we do, it makes us accomplices to genocide?"  
"That is only if we use the weapon," Chen replies. "Right?"  
"Following the letter of the law, yes," Data answers.  
"Which you might have to do," the big man reminds them. "Captain,..."  
"Yes, mister Worf," Picard interrupts him. "I'm aware of what this might mean. Both to the reputation of the Federation..."  
"What little that was ever worth," Mary mumbles.  
"And to our own personal moral code," Picard continues, ignoring what Mary just said.  
"If nothing else," Zordon realizes, "by getting our hands on this doomsday weapon, we'll be preventing others from using it."  
"But what will keep YOU from using it." Crusher did not ask this.  
"I will," Zordon answers her. "You have my word."  
Picard sighs. "If we cannot trust Zordon, who can we trust."  
"Captain..." Worf sounds insistent. "You can take it from me, a member of a warrior race. Whoever possesses a weapon, any weapon, has to one day use it."  
Mary grins. "Well, you may have your wish."  
All turn their eyes to her.  
"The weapon in question is on Earth."  
Apart from Chen, all are taken aback at the sound of that name.  
"It would be near impossible for us to retrieve, anyway," Mary adds.  
"Are you saying that arguably the most dangerous weapon of all is on the one planet that is most likely to use it?" Picard asks, disbelief being audible in his voice.  
Mary shrugs. "Basically."  
"Then I suppose we have only one objective in all this," Data says. "To keep 'it' from falling in the wrong hands."  
"As I suggested before," Zordon reminds them.  
Picard rises from his chair. "I shall tell the helmsman to bring us to Earth."  
"Thank you, Jean-Luc," Zordon says.  
"I only hope your gratitude is not misplaced," Picard replies.


	15. Chapter 15

**Mos Eisley, Tatooine:**

A desert planet, located in the outer regions of this galaxy, where all of the universe's outcasts will eventually end up. The sort of planet where anyone higher up in the food chain would never be expected to venture near. Making it the perfect place for a secret meeting.

At the local cantina, one old man enters, wearing a cloak, yellowed out by the sand, and accompanied by two guards. Both are mechanical, carrying guns, and having one red light for an eye, which moves from left to right.  
"Hey!" the bartender shouts. "We don't allow their kind in here."  
The old man, shaking his head as he takes off his hood, walks over to the bartender.  
"I couldn't give a daggit's ass what you do or do not allow in here," the old man tells him. "I was invited in here, and allowed two of my most trusted guards."  
"I don't care!" the bartender shouts.  
The old man shrugs. "Very well. If you want to aggravate the people who invited me here..."  
At the mere suggestion, the bartender begins to sweat.  
"Um... d... do... carry on..." the bartender points to the door behind the counter.  
The old man smiles. "I knew you'd see reason."  
Following the directions, the old man enters through the door.

Beyond the door, there is a flight of stairs. He tells one of his guards to go down first, followed by himself, and the other one following suit.  
At the bottom, the old man can hear the click of a gun, upon which his guard raises his gun.  
"Model Number One has arrived," a mechanical voice sounds. "Stand down."  
Whoever held up the gun must have lowered it, as the guard can move forward. The old man steps forward, and enters the basement.  
Here, a large table is set. At the head, he sees two men. Both are dressed in black, and in both cases their clothes appear to be mechanical.  
"Scorpius and Darth Vader," the old man, Model Number One, raises his voice. "I should know you two would be the ones to organize this."  
"Have you seen any of the others?" Scorpius asks.  
"In a way," Model Number One says.  
He reaches into a pocket under his cloak, and takes out an object.  
A fraction of a second was all it took for others to recognize what it is. Two Stormtroopers and two Peacekeepers raise their guns and point them at One. His mechanical guards turn around and point their guns at the four guards.  
"Which one of these four were the ones to hold a gun to my Cylon guard?" One asks.  
Neither Scorpius or Darth Vader answer.  
"Oh, I see," One realizes. "You need to take it easy."  
He raises his hand, revealing that he was taking a gun out of his pocket.  
"Let me just put it down on the table," One tells them.  
"Slowly," Darth Vader demands.  
He does so. An action that should have taken one second, took ten seconds instead. With the gun on the table, One retracts his hand.  
The gun clicks, but not because someone touches it. Some parts of the gun open up, smaller parts come out. Within seconds, the gun had transformed into a humanoid.  
"Megatron?" Darth Vader sounds surprised.  
"Thought you'd be bigger," Scorpius remarks.  
The humanoid gun, Megatron, raises his arm, which has a gun of its own mounted onto it. "You dare mock the leader of the Decepticons!?"  
Scorpius and Darth Vader exchange looks.  
"Take your seat," Vader tells him. "Both of you."  
"Wait!" Megatron interjects. "What about my guards?"  
"Oh, yes. Almost forgot," One takes two other items from his pocket, and puts them on the table.  
One is a blue, rectangular shaped device, with several buttons on it. The other looks like a communication device. The type that has to be flipped open to use, but in this instance is shut. Like Megatron, both of these devices change, and take on the form of humanoid robots.  
With all this done, One finds his seat. It is the one that has the name tag "Cylon One" printed on it. Megatron, however, being too small to sit on the chair, sits behind his tag instead.  
Shortly after, one woman in black leather, and mechanical wiring where her hair should be, materializes in the room, accompanied by two men, wearing the same type of clothes, but being even more mechanized.  
"Borg Queen," Darth Vader greets her.  
The woman, Borg Queen, listens to Vader's breathing. "If you stop declining our invitation, you'd have a much more efficient breathing system."  
Though the breathing happens automatically, this particular exhalation sounds forced. "And if I did accept your invitation, I won't be joining the Borg. The Borg will be working for me."  
The Borg Queen smirks as she takes her seat. "If that's what you wish to believe, I can't stop you."  
"Blasphemy!" an unknown voice shouts, followed by the sound of a mechanism activating.  
All turn their heads.  
Two men, dressed in Ancient Egyptian clothes, carrying lances, which they are aiming as though aiming guns, and pointing directly at the Borg Queen.  
"Lower them!" a third voice speaks.  
The guard that spoke turns around, revealing a smaller man, wearing a mask that seems too big for its body.  
"My lord," the guard says, "she was telling that other man he can believe what he wants."  
"Of course he can," the shorter man says. "Everyone can believe whatever they want."  
Both guards drop their jaws.  
"For as long as one of their believes is that I am their god," the man continues. "If they don't believe that, then you can kill them."  
This makes the guards grin. "Yes, my lord."  
Scorpius whispers to Vader. "I shudder to think of what may happen, when his guards realize that Ra is just a man, and can be killed."  
Vader turns to the short man. "Ra, if you would take your seat now."  
"I will sit without your ordering me to do so," the short man, Ra, barks.  
"That was not an order," Vader says, without the slightest change in tone. "It was a suggestion. Or are gods so petty to be above that?"  
A slight shudder courses through Ra, but he takes his seat none the less.  
"Such arrogance," a voice hisses as it descends.  
"That sounds like the Wraith Queen," Scorpius says.  
"I am indeed," said Queen snarls as she appears into view behind Ra.  
She is a woman, with pale-green skin, long dark-red hair, wearing a black coat, and has large teeth. Accompanying her are two literal strongarms. The same skin tone, wearing black battle armor, having long white hair. If they also has sharp teeth, it is not obvious, as both are wearing masks.  
"Move... out... of... the... way...," a somewhat odd, and slow, voice sounds. "Or... you... will... be... ex... ter... mi... na... ted!"  
Protecting their Queen, her guards stand in the way of the ones that are about to descend the stairs, and aim their guns.  
Scorpius rolls his eyes. "For frell's sake."  
He rises from his seat. "Wraith Queen, you better take your seat, and have your guards stand guard with you."  
He turns to the people up the stairs. "No need to exterminate anyone. Yet."  
"Daleks... take... no... orders... from... infe... rior... spe... cies!" the same voice rattles.  
"Then take the order from your creator instead," a somewhat older voice command them. "They are no threat to us yet. Give them time to become one first."  
"Don't you worry," the Wraith Queen hisses. "I just might."  
With that, she takes her own seat at the table, allowing whoever talked to enter the room too.  
All three of the newcomers look like human-sized tanks. With two of them, the top is a dome, with two light-bulbs on each side, and one camera in the middle. These same two have one gun each, as well as one mechanical arm. The third tank's top is different, as this one has the upper half of a human body. His right hand is mechanical, while his other, for unknown reasons, is kept inside the tank. This one looks ancient, well beyond his natural years. Both of his eyes are shut, but there is a third one in his forehead, which looks to be made of the same material as the cameras on the other two.  
"Davros," Scorpius says. "How nice to see the Daleks letting you represent them."  
"They may not always agree with me," the old man Davros says, "but they can never bring themselves to kill me."  
Darth Vader mutters to himself. "With all of these here, that leaves..."  
A lightning strikes down. An idea that is already absurd, as they are indoors, and underground. How is it possible that a lightning would strike in this room?  
The answer appears as the lightning subsides. One man, stripped of his skin, exposing his muscles, and his skeleton, which appears to be made of metal. He wears a crown, that consists of a grille covering his mouth, a visor covering his eyes, for some reason nothing to cover his brains, and a large letter "Z" on top of his visor. The same "Z" is also seen on top of the man's staff. Accompanying him are two gray footsoldiers, who also have the letter "Z" on their chests, and look as though they can barely stand on their own legs.  
"Lord Zedd," Vader finishes his own sentence.  
"I do not need you to introduce me!" the skinless man, Zedd, cries at him. "I am the emperor of all that I see! I don't need..."  
His riff is cut short, when he suddenly feels something in his throat. Zedd reaches for it, but can't find anything wrong.  
"I find your respect... lacking," Vader speaks, as he holds up his hand toward Zedd. Even though Vader is two meters away from Zedd, and making no physical contact at all, somehow this one gesture is enough to make the latter choke.  
Everyone else raises their heads, disturbed at what they're seeing. Their personal guards aren't doing anything, as their wards are not the ones that are threatened.  
"Let this be a lesson to all of you," Scorpius says. "Get out of line, and you shall pay dearly for it."  
Vader lets go of Zedd.  
"We'll see who pays dearly," Zedd mutters before he sits down.  
"Information that can prove useful in the future."  
Shocked at the voice, everyone shifts their heads. Who is it that just spoke?  
"Here."  
All turn to where that came from.  
Before their very eyes, the wall melts, revealing two larger men. Both of whom have scaled bodies, horns on their head, and a white tube connecting a device in their clothes to their heads. The blob that was once the wall keeps moving, it rises up, thickens itself, allows for four tube-shapes to sprout from the body, and one sphere-shape on the top. It takes a while before everyone recognizes the thing as taking on a humanoid shape. Before them stands a Changeling.  
"I was wondering why the room looked smaller than it should be," Vader quips, as if he already knew this to be the case.  
"Our Dominion representative is here as well. Good," Scorpius says. "Now we can finally begin."  
"Though honestly, I don't see the point in this," One says. "I've lost many of my forces when Mondas exploded."  
"Maybe you should not have tried to take the Cybermen from us," the Borg Queen states.  
"Is that how you justify stealing some of our ships?" One snaps back.  
"Because of your decreased forces, there was no one to guard your resurrection ship when it was attacked," the Wraith Queen moans. "Now we've lost our food supply."  
Some confused glances were exchanged. What exactly did the Wraith Queen mean by this?  
"We have to look to Soros for a new source", the same Queen continues, "but the humans of that planet are feral, and don't taste as good."  
Davros laughs. "Pitiful! My Daleks have suffered no loss at all! They are the supreme beings, after all."  
"Are they?!" Megatron questions. "Last I heard, they couldn't protect their Emperor's ship from being destroyed.  
Davros' mechanical hand balls a fist, just when Ra speaks. "I would have put one of my most trusted Goa'uld into the Klingon Emperor, if someone hadn't intervened."  
His head turns to Zedd as he spoke.  
"Hah!" Zedd guffaws, "Putting snakes into people's bodies is child's play! If you had kept your nose out of my business, "I" would have conquered Kronos, and have the Klingons at my command!"  
Vader slams his fists on the table, instantly silencing everyone.  
He rises from his seat and speaks. "We can keep looking to place the blame on each other to our hearts' content, but that'd be procrastinating to look for a solution.  
"And what, precisely, do you propose we do?" the Changeling asks.  
Darth Vader sits down again, allowing Scorpius to talk. "One of our own ships, shortly before exploding, had caught another ship, that was traveling in hyper-space. What few reports managed to survive, say that they ship carried three crew members. However, we also have unconfirmed reports that the same ship also carried a Zordon."  
"Zordon!" this makes Zedd rise from his seat in anger.  
"Judging from your reaction, I assume this name means something to you?" Scorpius' grin shows he already knows the answer.  
"He's been intervening with my plans for too long!" Zedd explains.  
The Wraith Queen hisses, "What's a Zordon?"  
"He's known to be a traitor," Scorpius explains. "Everyone from his home planet Eltar is."  
This name rings a bell with One. "Eltar?"  
"Is that significant?" Ra asks him.  
"I've heard of that planet before," One elaborates. "They are said to have formed an alliance with people from many worlds. The Asgard, the Ancients..."  
The Wraith Queen hisses at the sound of "Ancients".  
One continues, apparently not noticing the reaction. "... the Autobots..."  
"What?" Megatron is infuriated to hear this.  
"... the Time Lords..." One goes on, uninterrupted.  
Davros gasps at the sound.  
"... the Jedi, and many more," One finishes.  
"The Jedi have been wiped out," Vader remarks. "I have seen to that personally. However, if they were part of this alliance you mentioned, it tells us much about the other people."  
"Such as?" Scorpius asks.  
"They are people who claim to be enlightened, and shun violence," Vader explains.  
Ra nods, intrigued. "That must be why I have never heard of them before. So these "enlightened" people have decided to join in on the conflict?"  
"I am not sure they are really doing anything themselves," Scorpius says. "What little security footage there is left, shows this."  
Scorpius holds up a small device, from which he projects a still shot. In this shot, he shows a man doing battle with some of the Stormtroopers and Peacekeepers.  
"I know that man!" the Borg Queen cries. "He was seen on board one of my Cubes."  
Scorpius presses a button on his device, showing a picture of a ship, with a dog-shaped head on the top, a red nose with a spider-web motif.  
Davros recognizes this instantly. "That's the last image the Dalek Emperor has sent us!"  
One of the reptilian guards brings his hand to his ear, listens for a moment, then rushes up to the Changeling, whispers something in his ear, upon which the Changeling rises from his seat.  
"I just received word from one of my operatives on board a Federation vessel. That ship you just showed us has been destroyed.  
"Good!" Zedd cheers. "Bye bye, Zordon."  
"Unfortunately," the Changeling ignores Zedd, "the ship's occupants are still alive, and on their way to Earth."  
Some in the room curl their lips, while others shrug.  
"That planet is on the verge of destroying itself," Ra says. "We don't have to do anything to help them."  
"The reason they are going to Earth," the Changeling continues, "is because they are looking for a doomsday weapon."  
The room falls silent upon that revelation.  
"On Earth?" Megatron questions. "Just how effective can a weapon from that planet be?"  
"There is no way to know," the Changeling admits. "But if one man can inflict as much damage to us as this one already has, it means that nothing, not even a weapon from a backwards thinking planet like Earth, should be underestimated."  
"Then I shall send one of my warriors to Earth," Darth Vader says, "to take care of the problem."  
"Only one?" the Wraith Queen snarls. "This one man has been able to wipe out entire armies. What chance would this one warrior have?"  
"Armies have failed me before," Vader answers. "This one warrior has not."  
"Still," One says, "I think the Wraith Queen is right. I'd feel safer if we send others to destroy Earth as well."  
"Maybe we should ask the Vogons," Megatron suggests. "They're very efficient at destroying planets."  
"I object," Ra says. "The Vogons may be efficient, but unreliable."  
"Would you rather we sent one of your troops, then?" the Borg Queen asks him.  
"But he is not wrong," One says. "Even if we were to ask the Vogons to do things immediately, we may still have to wait weeks before it's actually done. They're like bureaucrats, who won't lift a finger, unless the right paper is signed."  
"So these Vogons are essentially bounty hunters," Scorpius remarks. "Maybe we should send our best one to persuade them into destroying Earth."  
"Very well," Darth Vader agrees, "I'll contact both this warrior, and the bounty hunters. Hopefully, this problem will be resolved soon."


	16. Chapter 16

**SGC, Creek Mountain, Colorado, Earth:**

On the sheet of paper in front of him, the words "Dear Jacob," were written. But nothing else.  
"General, sir?"  
Someone enters the room, interrupting his thoughts.  
"What is it, Sergeant?"  
"There's a call for you, over the Federation's line," the Sergeant replies.  
The Federation? The General immediately turns to the computer in his room.  
"Dismissed, Sergeant," he says, upon which the Sergeant nods, and leaves.  
The General turns on his screen, opens the correct program, upon which he sees Captain Picard.  
"General Hammond," Picard says. "It's been a while."  
"Captain Picard," Hammond replies. "You're right, it has been."  
"I have heard about what happened to your flagship team," Picard says. "I'm sorry to hear it."  
Hammond nods. "I thought it was hard enough to notify next of kin without telling them about what we do here. But this next of kin happens to be a personal friend of mine. How do I tell him he won't see his daughter again?"  
"With all the things that are happening on your planet, the last thing anyone needs, is more bad news," Picard replies.  
"Speaking of bad news," Hammond says, "I assume this is not a social call?"  
"You are right," Picard confirms. "It isn't."  
"What can I do for you?"  
Picard takes a deep breath before answering. "I have with me some passengers, who are on their way to Earth."  
Hammond frowns. "Since the Federation is forbidden to interfere with the affairs of Earth, I'm guessing you're not sending alien reinforcements?"  
"I'm not sending you any warriors from other planets," Picard replies, "if that's what you mean by 'alien'."  
Hammond sighs. "Then what are you sending?"  
"There are two individuals, who are from Earth originally," Picard explains. "They are coming here with a mission."  
"A mission?" Hammond frown deepens. "What sort of mission?"  
Picard shakes his head. "Unfortunately, I cannot divulge too much about this mission. Not over the network. However, their commanding chief should be able to fill you in on the details, should you allow him and his assistant access to your base."  
Any General's instinct would tell him to be skeptic about letting any random stranger onto his base. But he knows Picard well enough. He would never let anyone dangerous on his base. Or if he is, it wouldn't be something the base can't handle.  
"What do you need us to do?"  
Picard smiles, although Hammond notices there is a hint of uncertainty even in that. "I want you to assist these people where possible."  
This still did not make Hammond feel at ease. "What sort of assistance?"  
"Mostly food, water, and likely transportation," Picard elaborates. "Possibly through your Stargate. And maybe even military aid. However, we hope it won't come to that."  
"In my experience, there is no such thing as 'it won't come to that'."  
Picard stifles a laugh. "I understand, General. But as you are well aware, the situation is growing more and more dire with every hour. I would not ask you this if we weren't already at our wits' end."  
Looking over his desk, Hammond sinks back in his chair. Scattered throughout his office, there are many files. In many cases he has only been able to look at the cover, but not actually read them. There are reports about the Goa'uld joining forces with a race called the Romulans. Rumors about a rogue group of Asgard that have been invaded by some... Thing, the reports are unclear about that. And on his desk, newly arrived, is a file concerning something called Ori. Barely had he received the news that the Replicators are gone, and already there's a new enemy. To describe the situation as dire is the biggest understatement Hammond has ever heard Picard make. So whatever it is that he needs the SGC's help for, it cannot be that much worse than anything.  
"Very well," Hammond agrees. "When will they be here?"  
"We're already at maximum velocity," Picard says. "They should arrive in your base inside of a day."

**Starship Enterprise:**

Picard turns off his computer, turning back to Chen and Mary, who are still in the room.  
"Who is this... General you spoke to?" Chen asks.  
"He is an honorable man," Picard explains. "You might have heard of his exploits. He was willing to sacrifice himself if it meant saving Earth from a powerful Goa'uld."  
Mary and Chen frown at each other.  
"Sorry," Chen shakes his head. "Until a few hours ago, we didn't even know the Goa'uld existed."  
"Also, considering the state of Earth when we left it," Mary adds, "what exactly did he save?"  
Picard smiles. "Ah, youth, and its cynicism."  
"Coming from an old man, I'll take that as a compliment," Mary quips.  
"Data to Captain Picard," his voice sounds through somewhere, but neither Chen or Mary can see where from.  
Picard hits a badge that's on the left side of his chest. The badge gives a peep, and the Captain speaks. "Picard here."  
"We're nearly finished replicating a TARDIS," Data says, much to the shock of Mary and Chen.  
"Understood," Picard replies, before noticing the look on their faces.  
"You replicated?" Chen repeats.  
A small scoff before answering. "I'm sorry. To us, the word is so common place, we don't even think about it anymore."  
That's when Mary guffaws. "Of course, you explained it before. He means you created a TARDIS of your own."  
This confuses Chen even more.  
"Our universal translator puts everything into terms you may understand," Picard further explains. "However, it does not take context into account."  
"No, I mean, you can just create your own TARDIS?"  
Picard shrugs. "The actual specifications that Zordon gave us are a bit too complicated for our current technology to replicate. However, some of its bare necessities, like powersources, teleportation, and dimensional shifts, though limited, we can provide."  
Chen still squints his eyes.  
"I think he means that the TARDIS will still be bigger on the inside, just not as big as before," Mary elucidates.  
Before Chen can tell her he understands now, another voice speaks. Chen recognizes it as Worf's. "Captain! Vogons are seen heading toward Earth."  
At the sound of that word, Picard inhales sharply. "Acknowledged, mister Worf."  
"Vogons?" Mary asks.  
"We better talk this over with Zordon," Picard says. "Follow me."

Once the three of them have arrived inside Zordon's new TARDIS, Picard apprises him of what he has just been told. And like Picard, Zordon also looks worried at the thought.  
"But what is a Vogon?" Chen repeats his wife's earlier question.  
"They are a race of contractors," Zordon explains, "known to do anything efficiently. Including the demolition of planets."  
"Is that what they're going to do?" Mary asks, though she sounds more surprised than shocked.  
"We have no way of knowing for sure," Zordon replies.  
"What if they know about us?" Chen wonders. "About our plans to find the doomsday weapon?"  
"Impossible," Zordon shakes his head. "How would they have found out?"  
Picard sighs at that. "Unfortunately, it's not impossible."  
All turn their heads to Picard, who continues. "We go on many diplomatic missions, encounter many different people. It's possible they have planted a spy, or some type of surveillance equipment on board the ship."  
"So I was right?" Chen asks.  
"It's possible," Picard corrects him.  
"If it were true," Zordon realizes, "then even if you do get the weapon, Earth will not be safe. Many others, unaware of your finding it, will come to find the weapon for themselves. Or worse, destroy the planet to prevent others from finding it."  
Mary sighs. "On the bright side, it wouldn't be that big a loss.  
Both Zordon and Picard gaze at her, appalled with what she just said.  
"Captain," Data's voice suddenly sounds through the console room.  
Everyone turns to the front door, and see Data standing there.  
"What is it, Data?" Picard answers him.  
"I may have the solution to the problem," he says.  
"You do?" Alpha sounds elated. "Do tell! I'm dying to hear it."  
This confuses Data. "You look to be in perfect working order. How are you dying?"  
"We can discuss colloquialisms later," Picard replies. "What is your idea?"  
"We will be dropping them off at Stargate Command, are we not?" Data asks for confirmation, and Picard nods. "Well, when they have arrived, they will have to use the Stargate, in order to make this work."  
Zordon frowns. "Please, elaborate."  
"As I understand it, you want to prevent other people from using the doomsday weapon," Data says. "As such, it seems prudent that we should let the whole universe know you have it. But with the Vogons on their way to Earth, you do not have time to let the news spread over the conventional channels."  
"And this Stargate helps us how?" Mary tries to have Data speed up.  
As an answer, Data shows them his tablet. "I have done the calculations myself. If you were to type this into Stargate Command's computers, it should allow them to dial into every single Stargate in the universe.  
"Do I have to repeat my question?" Mary says, annoyed.  
"With the Stargate being connected to all other Gates," Data continues, "you can then send a message to everyone in the whole universe. To let them know you have the weapon."  
"Data," Picard himself is shocked to hear this. "I thought we agreed to let them prevent others from using the weapon. Not use it to hold the entire universe hostage."  
"That is correct, sir," Data acknowledges. "However, even I could not devise a different course of action within the brief time of being aware of the danger."  
"And yet you have enough time to use big words," Chen moans.  
"Typing it into the SGC's computer will take too much time," Zordon says, "Type it into the TARDIS computer instead. We'll connect it to their computers, and do all the work from there."  
"Wait a minute," Mary just realizes. "If time is a problem, then you can't just take us all to this Stargate Center."  
"Stargate Command," Alpha corrects her.  
But Mary ignores him. "It's best if you drop Zordon off at this Stargate, but drop Chen and me where the weapon is."  
"Giving us enough time to prepare," Zordon sounds agreeing, "and you the time needed to find it."  
Picard still shakes his head. "I still have the feeling that we're setting ourselves up to betray everything we stand for."  
Mary cackles. "And just what IS it that you stand for?"  
His body tremors, while his hands ball up into fists. Both Mary and Chen plant their feet firmly on the ground, but Picard, in spite of his fury, turns around and leaves the TARDIS."  
"Please," Data addresses Mary, "where is this weapon located?"  
"Berkshire, England," she answers. "Some cemetery. That's all I know."  
Data types the information in his tablet, then leaves.  
"Meanwhile," Zordon says, "you better rest up. It will be a while before we reach Earth, and you haven't had much time to rest."  
Mary snorts. "No argument there. Let's go, Chen."


	17. Chapter 17

**SGC, Creek Mountain, Colorado, U.S., Earth:**

Still at merely the "Dear Jacob" stage of writing, General Hammond is found at his desk. He has delayed it for too long already. He presses his pen to the paper and continues.  
"It is hard for me to say this," he writes. "Not just because I'm talking about someone who meant a lot to me as well, but because I'm talking to a friend."  
"General, sir," the familiar voice of Walter speaks, interrupting the Hammond's thoughts.  
The General turns his head to the door on his left.  
"A... I don't know how to say it," Walter stammers, "but a large metal box has just arrived in the control room."  
Is Walter making fun of me now, Hammond wonders? He rises from his chair, dropping his pen on his desk as he does so, and follows Walter into the control room.

As he descends the stairs, Hammond can see his technical Sergeant, along with his assistant Corporal, staring at something just outside his own field of vision. Going down a few more steps, Hammond finds out what it is they're staring at, and that Walter was not making fun of him at all. There really is a metal box in the control room. Descending even more, and he notices that box is opened on one side.  
"What the hell am I looking at!" Hammond demands.  
"Are you the leader of this facility?" a voice calls out from inside the box.  
This makes him frown even more. "There are people inside there?"  
"Yes, sir, "Walter replies. "They've been asking for you specifically."  
"Is it safe to go in there?" the General asks.  
Walter shrugs. "Safety is the least of your concerns."  
One look from his commanding officer, and Walter already knows what he is about to ask.  
"Trust me, you're not gonna believe my answer," is all he tells the General.  
When have his subordinates stopped being straight-forward with their answers, Hammond asks himself? He shakes his head, and steps inside the box.  
One look at the interior, and he understands what Walter meant. He cannot believe it, even when looking at it. The box is barely the size of a phone booth, and yet inside it seems to be larger than even the control room.  
"Are you General Hammond?" the same voice from before sounds.  
Hammond turns to his left, where he finds a large tube, carrying a giant head inside it. Next to it, there is a red-and-blue robot.  
"Who's asking?" the General questions.  
"I am Zordon," the giant head replies. "Captain Picard told you I was coming."  
Hammond remembers Picard's words very well. He said he wouldn't be sending any warriors from other planets. These two look nothing like warriors, but they are definitely alien.  
"He told me you'll need some assistance," Hammond says.  
"We do," Zordon replies. "We need you to access all Stargates in the universe.  
Hammond's frown deepens. "Every single one?"  
"We also need a camera and microphone," Alpha continues, "And to connect our console to your computers. And..."  
"Hang on one second," Hammond interrupts him. "First of all, you want to access an Air Force computer?"  
"We have no interest in any of the information in the computers," Zordon assures him. "We only need it to dial into every Stargate. And so the TARDIS... I mean my vessel's computers, can help translate what we're going to tell the universe."  
"But still," the General shakes his head, "we barely have the power to open a wormhole to a Gate in another galaxy. Let alone every single Gate."  
"You let us worry about power," Zordon assures him. "Just help us connect our computers to yours."  
The General sighs. He hopes this Zordon character knows what he's doing.  
"Sergeant Syler!"  
At the sound of his own name, the technical sergeant enters the TARDIS, followed by his assistant.  
"General?"  
"Assist Zordon here with everything he needs," Hammond orders him.  
"Yes, sir," Syler replies, then turns to his assistant. "Wood, better get the wrench."

**Berkshire's Cemetery, U.K., Earth:**

A sound of sparkles in the wind resonate in this small area. And once it subsided, one man and one woman have materialized.  
"That was different," Chen says.  
"What was?" Mary asks him.  
"This teleportation," Chen explains. "When Zordon does it, it's like something grabs you, picks you up, and drops you off somewhere. But when the Enterprise does it, it feels like they tear you apart, and put you back together again."  
Mary grins. "Already thought this felt weird. Now I know why."  
Chen looks at his hands, which are holding a shovel. He looks at Mary, who is also carrying one.  
"We've got something to do," he says. "We better do it."  
As he takes a step forward, Mary sniffs the air. "Do you smell that?"  
To know what she's talking about, Chen sniffs it as well. He almost retches, but he keeps himself composed. "Anything special you're smelling?"  
"Yeah," Mary tells him. "It smells like some of the bodies I had to dissect, when I was still training to be a doctor."  
Chen shrugs. "We're at a cemetery. Smelling dead bodies is not odd."  
"Except the bodies are usually buried," Mary reminds him. "We shouldn't be smelling them."  
A low growl can be heard, coming from behind them.  
"Did you hear that?" Chen whispers, and Mary nods.  
The married couple turns around, and freeze at the sight.  
Behind them, is a small group of people. Though the moonlight doesn't reveal much, it does show that these people move slowly, have trouble raising their arms, and are wearing rags for clothes. One of these manages to venture close enough for the two to see that he has a large gaping hole in his cheek. Also, at this distance, the smell of death is worse.  
"Stay back!" Chen shouts at this one, but it merely growls more.  
One swing with his shovel, and Chen makes a direct hit with against this one's head. To both his and his wife's surprise, this one hit is enough to knock the attacker's head off the body.  
Both of them are wide-eyed at this.  
"Don't they... usually stay on?" Chen questions.  
Mary nods, uncertainly. "Normally there is some resistance on the body's part, but that didn't seem to be the case here. It's like this guy's..."  
Another moan interrupts her. Except this time, it didn't come from the others. It came from the ground.  
Both look down. They find the head that Chen had just chopped off. Its mouth is still moving, snarling.  
"... is already dead." Mary finishes her own sentence.  
Others are closing in.  
Hesitating no longer, Chen swings his shovel around as he would a staff.  
One by one, his shovel would either cut the heads in two, or bash their brains out.  
At the sight of this, Mary smiles. A smile that is interrupted when the moan from the dead man's head sounds again. Rolling her eyes, Mary raises her foot, lets it hover over the head, then thrusts the heel of her shoe into its skull.  
Chen, who had only just slain his last dead walker, grins at what his wife just did. "Nicely done."  
"Too bad," Mary sighs. "These were some find shoes as well."  
Chen looks around him. "We can take care of a small army like this. But they'll be harder to beat in larger numbers."  
Mary nods. "We better find what we're looking for as quickly as possible, and leave just as soon."

Back at the SGC, Alpha is watching Syler, as he is dragging some wires inside the TARDIS, and starts connecting them to the wiring inside the TARDIS console.  
"If you need any help with that, mister Syler, don't hesitate to ask," Alpha tells him.  
"I appreciate the offer," Syler says, "But I'd feel a lot safer if I do this myself."  
"Even humans know machines, Alpha," Zordon says. "Never forget that."  
Barely have those words come out, and Hammond enters the console room, carrying a laptop.  
"We just received a sub-space message," he says, after which he opens the laptop, and shows the message.  
On the screen, a large green blob, with one humanoid face on the top is shown, holding a microphone to his mouth.  
"Good day, citizens of Earth," the blob says. "I hereby inform you that you have forty-three hours before your planet is demolished. So please be so kind to leave it at once."  
As Zordon watches, he notices this blob is not alone. With him is one man, wearing green armor and helmet, which has a T-shaped visor, carrying a huge gun.  
"Isn't that a Vogon?" Alpha asks.  
"That is correct, Alpha," Zordon says. "And Boba Fett is with them. This is worse than I thought."  
"Why?" the General closes the laptop. "What are these... people?"  
"The Vogons are willing to take on any job for the right price," Zordon explains. "But it looks like they're hired by Boba Fett, who is known to be the most ruthless bounty hunter. He must have found something of great value to hire the Vogons this fast. If so, nothing that Earth has to offer will be enough to sway them into staving off your demolition."  
"The forces of Evil know no bounds," Alpha moans.  
Hammond thinks for a few seconds. "Maybe I can help."  
All turn their heads to Hammond.  
"Our joint chief, General Vidrine, has a nephew, who is also a bounty hunter," Hammond explains. "He might be the only one to talk to this Boba Fett at the same level, and persuade him into calling things off."  
"Does this nephew know anything about intergalactic politics?" Zordon asks.  
Hammond does not answer.  
"As I feared," Zordon sighs.

While Chen and Mary walk across the Berkshire cemetery, a weak light flashes around them. Surprised at this phenomenon, the two shift their heads. Another one. Neither understand what this is. It's like the light is there, and then disappears. As though someone is switching a light on and off again.  
Mary looks into the sky. "There!"  
Chen looks to where she's pointing.  
Between the stars, many small explosions occur. They are too far away to hear, but can still be clearly seen.  
"Looks like they've found a way to fight their wars in space as well," Mary says.  
"Right now, that's a good thing," Chen remarks. "It helps us see more."  
Mary snorts. "As if you need light to see that."  
She points at something in the distance, where Chen looks.  
Some meters before them, there is a grave, but with a small fire in front of it. The fire is weak, but burn enough to show " . OF TH. .NKN..." and the last word has faded away completely.  
"Is this where the weapon is buried?"  
"It better be," Mary says, raising her shovel. "Let's dig."  
Chen nods, raises his shovel, rushes toward the grave, where he thrusts it down.  
As fast as they can, they dig their way down. Though the two would love nothing more than to talk while working, they both realize they'd only be wasting energy, and time. Without saying a word, they dig as deep and as fast as they can.  
"You hear that?" Mary asks.  
Chen stops digging, only to then hear it too. A soft moaning. A familiar moaning.  
"Not those again..." Chen sighs.  
"Maybe this is to our advantage," Mary smiles. "Listen..."  
She whispers something to Chen, who grins at the sound of it.

The moaning, meanwhile, grows louder, and louder. Soon enough, the very source becomes visible. About a dozen more people, flesh half-rotten, clothes torn, limbs limp, arms raised, and jaws slack, are moving toward the married couple. Much to their surprise, only their upper bodies are above the ground, but their legs are nowhere to be seen. If these people had any real thoughts, they'd think these two are easy prey.  
Closer they come. One step at a time.  
Black?! Something covers their eyes. One of them wipes it off his eyes, only to see the two people in front of him, sinking their shovels, then raise them up again, only to throw dirt into the eyes of everyone. This only makes this one more determined to venture closer.  
As soon as he got near enough, the man plants his shovel down, jumps up, spins around the hilt, kicking this dead man against his head.

"You always know how to impress a girl," Mary tells him.  
Before she can see him return the smile, she notices one of these people is too close. She thrusts her shovel up against this walker's chest, pushing him back. With this one down, she swings the shovel around.  
To her surprise, the shovel stops somewhere. She pulls it back, but it doesn't move. Instead, it is pulled out of her hands. One of these dead things grew smarter, and understands how to use a shovel.  
In the corner of his eye, Chen saw this happening. His first instinct is to jump out of the pit, and fight them, but he doesn't like leaving his wife defenseless. And with every second he spends thinking about it, these things are advancing.  
A deafening thunder resonates through the cemetery. At the same time, one of the heads of these dead people explode. Ten more follow, until all of these people are dead.  
"I always knew you'd dig your own grave," a voice said, giving the two an idea of where to look for the one who saved them. "But I never thought it'd be literally true."  
"Frank!" Chen shouts, jumping from the pit.  
The man, Frank, grins. "Look who's back from outer space."  
Chen scoffs. "You wouldn't believe how close to the truth you are."  
Mary climbs out of the pit. "Friend of yours?"  
Putting his gun back in his pocket, Frank turns to Mary, sticking his hand out to shake hers. "'Scuse me, ma'am. Frank Martin."  
"So what brings you to a cemetery?" Chen asks.  
Frank shrugs. "My job takes me to all sorts of places. Many of which I never dreamed about."  
This makes Mary raise a brow. "What kind of job?"  
"I'm a transporter."  
"Of what?" Mary seems skeptic.  
Frank shrugs. "Anything, really."  
"Does that include people?" Mary finally asks.  
Frank frowns at that. "Why? Who do you want me to transport?"  
"Us," Mary says. "When we're done here, we need to go to Creek Mountain, Colorado, immediately."  
Frank scratches his neck, thinking. "A US Air Force base. Not an easy task."  
He looks at his old friend, whose happier face has suddenly become worried.  
"But I'll see what I can do," Frank adds.


	18. Chapter 18

Dawn is breaking, Frank realizes. Just what is it that these two are doing that takes so long? Is it a body they are trying to uncover? And if yes, whose? What for? In his profession, he's learned not to ask too many questions. But that's usually where clients are concerned. This wasn't just a client. This was a friend of his. What's more, the person he contacted to take them to the US, might not wait for much longer.  
"We're back," Chen's voice, at last.  
Frank turns around. There they are, covered in dirt, as he expected. Did they rob a grave? Doesn't seem like it. Their hands are empty. Is the thing they took so small it can fit in their pockets? Chen doesn't have pockets, and Mary's are so thin, if she had anything in there, he'd have seen it. There is nothing.  
Mary raises her hand to move a lock of her hair out of her face.  
This is when Frank notices a dark ring. Was she wearing that before? He's not sure. It was dark when he first saw her a few hours ago. It reminded him of a story he heard, about a cat who wore what looked like a mere jewel on his collar, but it turned out to be a dangerous weapon. Could this ring be that as well?  
Frank, deciding that he really shouldn't be asking himself these questions, just shrugs.  
"I have made some arrangements," he tells his friend. "There is a plane waiting for you."  
He opens the door to the backseats. Chen waits to enter, letting Mary get in first, after which he follows.  
Frank shuts the door behind them, takes his own seat behind the wheel, starts the car, and drives off.

As they drive, the married couple take a look outside. Everywhere they looked, they find a dead body. Some were still moving, but whether that was because they were still alive, or because the same thing is happening to them as was to the dead people they found at the cemetery, they can not guess.  
More disturbing than that, however, are the uniforms they were wearing. Many of these people wear suits that bear a huge ornate red cross on their chests. Others bear an insignia that reads SPQR, and are carrying electrical guns. Something which looked a little too high-tech for Earth, Mary thinks. So does Chen, albeit not in those exact words. The rest wear red bands around their arms, which had a black cross stitched into them.  
"What's been happening here?" Mary asks Frank.  
"The last guy in charge of the Nazis," Frank answered, "got executed. Only for someone worse to take his place. Someone with a red skull. And I don't mean a mask."  
Chen and Mary exchange a curious glance.  
"The Romans have struck a deal with the Martians," Frank continues. "They are now carrying sophisticated machines to wage their wars."  
"It doesn't seem to help them much," Chen says.  
"That might have been the Martians' strategy," Frank replies. "And the Crusaders' leader, the one they call Bibleman, has really lost his mind."  
Mary snorts. "Any more than he already had?"  
Frank shakes his head. "I don't know. The tone of his voice, his choice of words, his fighting style,... I'm not sure if it's the same Bibleman as the one who started to crusades in the first place."  
"Looks like we were right to leave Earth when we did," Chen says.  
"More so than you suspect," Frank tells them. "Recently, S.P.D. has been overrun by a bat-like creature.  
Both Mary and Chen gasp at this revelation.  
Frank continues. "He is the law here now. So if you're hoping to leave again, you'll have to find a different way to do it."  
"How could this happen?" Chen wonders. "We barely got through S.P.D. customs with our lives ourselves. And after our stunt, you'd think they'd have enforced their security a little."  
"You're right, they did," Frank explained. "In Japan, at least. The American Branch did no such thing, so they were much easier to infiltrate. The rest soon followed."  
Only one question comes to min with Mary. "How bad?"  
"Certain technologies that were previously forbidden on Earth, became openly available," Frank answers. "It's how the Nazis got a hold of necro-radiation, which raises the dead. Something which gives them an advantage over even the likes of Voldemort."  
"He's still alive?" Mary is genuinely shocked to hear this.  
"Unclear," Frank replies. "But even if he isn't, his foot soldiers are still receiving orders from someone."  
"It just keeps getting better and bet..." Chen begins, but is interrupted by something he sees in the sky.  
Chen pulls Mary to let her witness this too. She gazes into the sky.  
All they see is a giant block, with something long attached to, and on top of the block, there is a dome with three windows, on of which reveals a searchlight. It takes them a while to recognize it as a the remains of a Mobile Suit.  
"Didn't we see one of these as we escaped Earth before?" Chen asks Mary.  
She nods. "It's ironic, isn't it? The colonists, the very builders of these Mobile Suits, they set out for space to escape Earth's problems. No matter what, humans will always find some reason to fight, and even more outrageous ways to do so."

Inside the Mobile Suit, someone is looking at some monitors. Through it, he's keeping an eye on the communications of Earth. Many of them report the crash of a piece of debris, but not one of them mentions having seen anything going inside of it. Good, he thinks. He's undetected. For now. He presses a few buttons on his console. A light shoots outside his vessel, blasting a hole into the head of the Mobile Suit, allowing him a way out. He pulls the lever, bringing his vessel afloat, pushes his steering wheel, telling it to move forward.  
He's out of the large piece of debris. He checks his monitors again. It shows that the energy signature he picked up, it happened nearby. That's where he is going.


	19. Chapter 19

Frank's car stops at an airplane.  
"Wait here," Frank tells them, and leaves the vehicle.  
As he goes, his passengers see him approach a man, standing at a plane. The man in question would be reminiscent of Frank, if it weren't for the fact that he looked to be twice Frank's size (and he was already a tall man).  
The two exchange a few words.  
"What do you suppose they're talking about?" Chen asks Mary.  
"How well does Frank know you?" Mary asks in return.  
"Hard to say," he answers. "We have fought side by side once before. That was years ago. Years before you and I even met. Whoever he thinks I am, I am not anymore."  
"I'd imagine that going over well," Mary remarks.  
"Even I am not sure if I know Frank as well as I thought," Chen adds. "After everything I've seen him do, I don't think he's the sort of man who settles as a delivery boy."  
"I don't think he is," Mary says. "I mean, this car alone, even without all the high-tech gear, it's too expensive for a mere delivery boy."  
"You think he stole all this?" Chen asks her.  
"Or the things he transports are of a more serious nature," Mary replies. "Maybe even criminal."  
Chen grunts. "It makes me wonder what type of man Frank's asked to bring us to America."  
She nods. "Agreed. If we see him, we'd better say as little about ourselves as we can."  
"That would be best," Chen answers.  
After a while, the bigger man joins Frank back to his car, who then opens the door, letting the two out.  
"Are you the ones that need a transport?" the man asks, to which the two nod. "Butler. Personal bodyguard to Master Fowl."  
There's a name that sounds familiar to Mary. "The criminal mastermind, Artemis Fowl?"  
If her words made the man called Butler feel anything at all, he's not showing it. "Junior."  
Mary sighs, relieved. "Not the man himself, then."  
Again, no reaction from Butler.  
"Wait, does that mean a child is taking us to America?" Chen asks, but with a smile on his face, rather than surprise.  
"We've seen stranger things," Mary quips.  
Ignoring her, Butler gestures them to the staircase, which allows them to board the airplane. And they follow his direction.

Aboard, the two meet with an empty plane. Aside from themselves and Butler, there is nobody in the plane. They are told to sit down, and fasten their seatbelts. Mere seconds later, their plane begins moving, and a few minutes later, they're in the sky.

Just as Chen is about to ask Mary something, the door to the cockpit opens. From behind it, comes a young man. He looks about fourteen years old, and yet wears a designer suit, has well-combed hair, and seems very stiff for his age. He's not as lax, or nonchalant as most children his age. He seems to think he is already an adult.  
"So you are the two individuals I was asked to take along for the ride," the young boy says. Though his accent is Irish, it's not as thick as some might expect it to be.  
"Are you Artemis Fowl Junior?" Mary asks him.  
"Artemis Fowl the Second, thank you very much," he replies, glaring at his bodyguard.  
Though both Mary and Chen knew to expect a child, they did not expect one like this.  
"So tell me," he says, "where are you two from?"  
Remembering their earlier conversation, the two decide it may be best if they don't tell him they're from space.  
"Hong Kong."  
"Seattle."  
The two answered at the same time, but not in unison. An obvious contradiction, which even someone younger than Fowl would question.  
Fowl grins. "Yes, I am sure that's where you two are originally from. But where were you before you came to Brittain?"  
"We've traveled a lot," Mary answers.  
"Without passports?" Fowl has a hard time believing that.  
"Believe me," Mary tells him, "the less you know, the better."  
Fowl shrugs. "That, I can understand. However, the problem is, I already know too much."  
The married couple exchanges a frown.  
"I remember reading about two individuals, who managed to escape from Earth, some time ago," Fowl elaborates.  
"You could read back then?" Chen questions.  
Mary punches his side with her elbow.  
Fowl, apparently ignoring the remark, continues. "They were described as being in their late twenties. Early thirties at most. One male, one female. Asian and Caucasian respectively. A combination that is hard to come by, even back then.  
"Hard, but not impossible," Chen tells him.  
Fowl shakes his head. "So you expect me to believe it's all just a coincidence?"  
"What about you?" Mary begins her own interrogation.  
If Fowl was surprised at all, his face does not show it. If his eyes did, his sunglasses hide that.  
"What about me?"  
"I've noticed some oddities about you, yourself," Mary explains. "On your right hand, your middle finger is where your index finger should be, and vice-versa. How do you explain that?"  
Fowl smiles. "I shouldn't be surprised you would have observe this. If my intel on you is correct, you are an unlicensed medical doctor.  
Chen rises from his seat.  
Almost as if in reflex, Butler steps between him and Fowl.  
"Easy there," Fowl warns him. "Butler has two nine millimeter guns hidden under his jacket, and two blades concealed under his trouser sleeves. But he knows a hundred different ways to kill you without using any of them.  
The expression on Chen's face does not change, as if he's not afraid of fighting the big man.  
Fowl snorts. "You are either incredibly stupid, or you have no reason to fear him. As I imagine any martial artist would not."  
A slight tremor stops this verbal fight.  
"Turbulence?" Mary wonders.  
Fowl shakes his head.  
All turn to the nearest window.  
What they see, they cannot immediately grasp. They look like regular people, dressed in robes, but they are flying by sitting on large sticks, with branches attached to one end. Are they flying on broomsticks, Chen asks himself?  
"Death Eaters," Butler mutters to himself.  
"Butler," Fowl rises from his seat. "Give our guests some parachutes, and have them leave the vessel."  
Just the two of us, Mary questions to herself? "What about you?"  
"We have... other means of escape," is all Fowl wants to tell her.  
With nothing more, Fowl returns to the cockpit.  
"Follow me!" Butler thunders to them.

As instructed by his ward, Butler gave the two their parachutes. They put them on as fast as they can, upon which Butler opened one of the plane's doors, and lets them escape the plane.

While all this is going on, the small ship arrives at Berkshire's cemetery. His monitors find the residual particles from that energy signature he detected. He steps out of his ship to take a closer look.  
Outside, he finds two sets of prints. One from a male, one from a female. He was told about this. One man who does all the fighting, while one woman does all the talking. And she is as good a talker as he is a fighter. Storing that thought away, he follows the tracks.  
The tracks bring him to a grave, which is now open. Though unfamiliar with Earth's customs, he would not understand the significance of finding a box that is only large enough to hold a rat. Surrounding this grave are many dead people. But this he does not question, as he heard of something similar happening in his part of the universe. What he does question, is the third set of prints he finds. This third set looks to be guiding them to a road outside the cemetery.  
Arriving there, he finds tire marks on the road. Of course there would be, he thinks to himself. He is told that Earth is a backwards thinking planet. So it should be expected that they still use wheels to transport their vehicles. At the end of these tracks, he finds some residue. He picks it up and smells it. Hiding his revulsion at the stench, he recognizes it as fossil fuel.  
As fast as he can, he returns to his ship. With it, he scans the residue. He finds plenty of it in the planet's atmosphere, but this residue also contains some traces of a metal alloy. Not to mention that it seems to leave its vehicle at very specific intervals, leaving traces all over the road. This should be enough for him to find where the car was going.

**Scatsville, California, USA:**

Sitting in his cave, he watches the monitors. There, he can see what many kids are doing across the world. Some are spraying each other with water-guns. Others are being spanked by their parents. Even more are hiding underground, holding close to each other. And with his army of crusaders marching through the world, he will soon have more cameras set up where he can keep watch over it all.  
"Bibleman," a voice calls to him.  
He groans. "U.N.I.C.E., I'm busy. I have to see which kid needs the Lord more than..."  
"I know," the voice continues. "But there is something I think you should see."  
He sighs. His first instinct would be to argue with this voice that's inside his computer, but he knows that would be fruitless. He finds himself wishing that the first Bibleman did a better job at lobotomizing the woman whose brain he stole to create this "artificial intelligence".  
"What is it?" he asks.  
As an answer, U.N.I.C.E. shows him footage from a news broadcast. On the footage, he sees a plane flying over, seemingly exploding out of nowhere.  
Bibleman, watching this, doesn't know how he is supposed to feel, looking at this. "Where did this happen?"  
"New Jersey," is the reply.  
"Anyone who went with the Lord?"  
"Unknown," U.N.I.C.E. answers. "But I did see this."  
The footage rewinds itself, and once it reaches a certain point, a circle appears on screen. As the footage replays, Bibleman's focus is on the inside of the circle, where he can see something leaving the plane.  
"So there are survivors?" he sounds more annoyed than he does relieved.  
"More than that," U.N.I.C.E. continues. "I just found out that the plane that exploded belonged to Artemis Fowl."  
This is when his eyes widen. "Thé Artemis Fowl?"  
"That's right."  
"Praise the Lord!" Bibleman exclaims. "If I can have Him save the world's most notorious criminal, several more will follow."  
He rises from his seat, and heads to his dressing chamber.  
"U.N.I.C.E., tell Command Central, I'm off to New Jersey."


	20. Chapter 20

**Somewhere in New Jersey:**

It takes a while for either to have found their way out of their parachutes, as neither have ever done this before, but they managed somehow.  
They find themselves in a forested area. One that is lit up only by the light of the moon.  
They unbuckled their chutes, ran toward each other as fast as they can, and hold each other tightly.  
"Just another thing on the list of things we survived together," Chen whispers to her.  
She smiles. While still holding him, she asks, "What would Death Eaters want with Fowl?"  
"Maybe it was a random attack," Chen reasons.  
"From Death Eaters? Not likely," Mary replies.  
"Revenge then?" Chen offers as an explanation. "As a thief, he must have angered many people."  
Mary shakes her head, and lets go of him. "Never mind why they did what they did. Where are we now?"  
"In trouble!" a voice shouted.  
The two shift their heads, looking for where that voice came from.  
From the bushes, several men appeared. They all wear brown uniforms, and carry reds flags, with a blue cross on it, with white stars within it.  
"Well, at least we're in America," Chen quips.  
"Shut up, gook!" one of the soldiers shouts, while holding up his gun.  
This was a mistake. Chen has been called that one too many times before. While he remembers what his master told him about how he should react to this, he decided not to take it this time. He did not come all the way back to a planet he never wanted to return to, just to be insulted. He hits the man's hand, causing him to let go of his gun.  
"He's gone mad!" one of the other cries. "Shoot him!"  
All point their guns at Chen, who then grabs hold of the now unarmed gunman's arm, pulls him in front of him, just when the other soldiers fire their guns.  
They stop, as soon as they realize their own comrade is used as a human shield.  
One of the firing soldiers looks about him. His eyes fall on Mary. Without thinking, he grabs hold of her arm, and pulls her closer to himself.  
"Stand down!" he shouts at Chen. "Or your whore is gonna ge..."  
He cannot finish his sentence, as he feels something cold being held against his throat. He looks down, finding that Mary has her hand raised, and is now holding a small knife to his throat.  
"I don't think so," Mary hisses at him.  
One of the other soldiers points his gun at Mary. "Lower your knife, or you're dead!"  
"You lower your guns," she snaps back, "or your friend won't breath anymore."  
Another soldier points his gun at Chen. "You lower your knife, or we'll kill the gook!"  
"You kill me, and she'll kill all of you!" Chen replies. "And if you kill her, I'll murder you all."  
The soldiers start murmuring among themselves.  
"That's not how people usually react. They normally sink down in defeat."  
"I think we can handle the whore. But after what that gook just did..."  
"You're right. There's no telling what he'd do."  
"We'll have to chance it."  
They all turn to the man holding Mary, and aim their guns.  
The man is frightened at the sight of it. "What are you doing?  
Chen, naturally, cannot contain himself anymore. Did they not hear him? He told them what he'd do if they carry out their threats. He balls his fists, getting ready for battle.  
Suddenly, surprising everyone, there is a loud thud. Shifting their heads, they find where the thud came from.  
They find one of the soldiers, standing behind them, one head shorter. Literally.  
As they are recovering from the initial shock, the body falls down, revealing a larger one behind it.  
In this light, it's hard to tell what he looks like. His clothes are dark, and his face looks white, but with holes in it.  
The remaining soldiers, unsure of what they are dealing with, point their guns at him, and fire.  
While every shot should be a direct hit, the man in front of them doesn't seem to feel any of them.  
The man in the shadows raises his arms, revealing himself to be wielding a machete. He hacks at the closest soldier, cutting off the hand that holds the gun. While the gunman is screaming in agony, the machete finds his way into the man's chest.  
While this is going on, Mary can feel the man holding her loosening his grip. This is an opening that Mary decided to exploit. Instead of simply holding her scalpel to the man's throat, she decided to let it sink into his flesh, and cutting his throat open.  
"That takes care of him," she says.  
"Run away!" one of the soldiers shouts, and the others followed the order.  
Chen, however, was not planning on letting them go. He trips one soldier, slams his flat hand against another's forehead, breaking his skull, and the one soldier that tripped, his body causes others to trip over him. With them down, Chen screams out loud, as he puts all his remaining energy into his fist, which he slams down on all the bodies that have piled up. He's done this many times before to a pile of bricks, so he believes the effect should be the same here.  
The man in the shadows, angry that someone else stole his kills, charges forward, raising his machete.  
Entering the light of the moon, Mary can now see him more clearly. He's over six feet tall, wears ragged clothes, and what she thought was his face earlier, turns out to be a hockey mask.  
"Jason?"  
The masked man turns to her. His eyes squint as he looks at her.  
She smiles. "I knew it was you."  
As he hears her, he lowers his machete.  
"You know this man?" Chen asks her.  
She smiles. "I recognize my own handiwork. I was the one who attached that mask of his to his face. Permanently."  
This makes Chen frown. "You did?"  
He takes a closer look at Jason. He sees there are holes in the mask, but none are large enough for his mouth.  
"How does he eat?"  
Mary shrugs. "Doesn't matter. Jason, do these people have a base camp?"  
He nods.  
"Can you take us there?"  
He nods again.  
"Why? What are you up to?" Chen asks her.  
"Because maybe these guys have a car," she answers. "Or at least something we can use to get to Creek Mountain."  
Chen scratches his chin as he thinks about this. "Maybe. But there will be more people there than there were here. How do you expect us to get in, take what we need, and get out again?"  
Jason's head shifts from Chen to Mary. Neither have any idea. But he just came up with something. He grabs one of the bodies by the collar of its coat, lifts it up, and carries it over his shoulder as he walks away.  
Chen and Mary are left, still frowning at what just happened.  
"What is he up to?"  
Mary shakes her head. "No clue. Maybe he's trying to help. Let's follow him."  
Chen nods, and does as she told him.

Two soldiers are pacing up and down at the entrance to the camp. As they do, they can only sigh at their assignment. They have been told to claim this camp as their own, as according to locals, the surrounding woods are haunted, and nobody wants to come here. Well, so both of them reason, for a haunted forest, they haven't seen that many ghosts.  
One of the men stops dead in his tracks, sniffing the air.  
"Do you smell something burning?" he asks his comrade in arms.  
The other sniffs the air as well. He stops as he smells it too.  
A flare streaks up in the air. Surprising them both, they raise their heads.  
Above them, something is being hurtled into the camp. What it is, they cannot clearly see, because it is set aflame.  
Hoping to avert a disaster, the two chase after the giant ball of flames.  
But they are too late. The ball of flames falls onto a tent, setting it on fire. People inside the tent try to leave, but cannot find their way out from under the cover. Many soldiers who witness this rush to the tent, trying to help them.

While they are distracted, Mary and Chen find their way into the camp. Hiding in the shadows, they find their way to their parking lot, where they crawl into one of the all-terrain vehicles.  
Chen, finding the keys still in the ignition, turns the car on.  
"Hold it!" a hand just grabs hold of his arm.  
Before Chen can even turn his head to see who this is, he hears a splotch sound.  
Once his head is turned, he sees one of these brownshirts, with the sharp end of a machete sprouted out of his chest.  
Jason thrusts the soldier he just killed forward, forcing him off his machete.  
From the vehicle's passenger seat, Mary calls to Jason. "Come with us."  
Jason looks at her, looks at the vehicle, then all around him. He eventually turns back to Mary, and shakes his head.  
Of course, she thinks to herself. This place is still his home. Why would he want to leave it?  
"I understand," she tells him. "Let's go, Chen."


	21. Chapter 21

The sound of feet stomping their way back into the TARDIS interrupts Alpha from doing his work.  
"I just got off the phone with NASA," General Hammond says. "They say that several ships have just arrived near Pluto."  
"Aye-aye-aye!" Alpha panics. "The Vogons have already arrived."  
"It's only a matter of time before they make it to Earth!" Hammond further says. "What is taking your people so long?"  
"General," Zordon replies. "You must trust that they'll arrive in time."  
Hammond scoffs. "I don't see why. Your people, from what you told me, are one martial artist with anger issues, and one doctor with a criminal record. And by your own admission, the Vogons are on their way here because of these two!"  
"I am well aware of all that," Zordon replies.  
"Why don't you just transport them here to the base, like you did with yourself?" Hammond asked him.  
"That was the Federation's doing, not mine," Zordon replies. "Besides which, there wasn't enough time to equip this TARDIS with teleportation capabilities. And even if there was, the Federation's technology cannot replicate anything they don't understand yet."  
"Replicate?!" Hammond questions, with a slight shock in his voice.  
"He means recreate," Alpha explains.  
Hammond blinks his eyes. Of course that's what he meant. How can two peoples know the same word, and yet not mean the same thing?  
"Doesn't the Federation have its own teleportation technology?"  
"Not of the variety that I use," Zordon elucidates. "They unscramble molecules, and put them back together again elsewhere. It's an unreliable, not to mention dangerous method, which I don't like to use. Especially with the fate of the universe at stake. It may destroy the lives of these two, or worse, it may destroy the weapon that is supposed to save us all."  
"So we're damned if we do, and damned if we don't," now Hammond understands.  
"That is correct, General."

Meanwhile, the Visitor finds his way to an airport, where his trail ends. That is to say, he finds that the particles he was following remained consistent the entire way, but then it stops, only for the same, somewhat younger particles to then show up. This tells him the vehicle stopped there for a time. So whoever got here, must have boarded one of these flying machines. This might be harder for him to follow. Unless...

"I already told you! I'm not here because I want to be!" the security guard yells over the phone inside his booth.  
He listens to what the person on the other end is saying, while trying to keep an eye on anyone who is unauthorized to enter this airfield.  
"I don't care what you believe anymore," he continues, "I..."  
He is stopped, as he sees someone standing at his booth. He doesn't know who this man is, if indeed it is a man. He looks to be a little shorter than him, wearing a black robe. Is this a monk?  
"Sorry," he says to the robed figure. "I ain't got time for..."  
The robed figure raises his hand, silencing the guard immediately.  
"Charles? What's going on?" the voice on the other end of his phone calls to him, but he doesn't respond.  
The guard presses a button on the phone, disconnecting it immediately. He presses some other buttons, and brings the horn back to his ear, his eyes staring into the distance, like he's in a trance.  
"Can I get the flight plan for Fowl Force 3?" he asks.  
He waits to hear the reply on the other end. "No I haven't. Why?"  
Whatever the answer, it causes him to turn to a different monitor, which he switches on.  
The robed figure looks at the monitor, and listens to the sound it's making.  
"Once again, for those just tuned in," a news anchor reports, "a plane, that may have belonged to the notorious Artemis Fowl, has exploded over the woods of New Jersey."  
With this new information, the robed figure leaves.  
The guard blinks his eyes, and shakes his head. What just happened.  
"Sir?" he hears a voice over the phone. "Are you still there?"  
"Uh? What?" he replies.  
"Are you still interested in the flight plan?"  
The guard frowns. "What flight plan? What are you talking about?"

While the hunter is looking, his prey is driving through the Jersey woods.  
"How long will it take to get to Creek Mountain?" Chen asks.  
"By car, several days," Mary answers. "At least."  
"We don't have that much time," Chen reminds him.  
"I know," Mary snaps back. That's when a thought occurs to her. "Wait, this SGC belongs to the Air Force. Right?"  
"Yes?" Chen is not sure why his wife asks this.  
"And Picard told this Hammond guy to help us in any way he can."  
He nods.  
"So why don't we try to contact this Hammond?" she suggests. "See if he can help us?"  
Chen shrugs. "I don't know. With all the wars this planet is fighting, both with itself and others, it's possible they can't help if they wanted to."  
"But it is worth the try," Mary says. "Don't you think so?"  
Her husband thinks about it. He doesn't think he'll get much help, but if they don't try, they'll never know.  
"We'll have to find a phone first."

As they talk, the man in dark robes looks through his ship's computers. The flying machine he is after is said to have crashed in New Jersey. Where is that? He accesses the planet's navigational networks, where he types "New Jersey". Once he found out where that is, he presses the appropriate buttons on his ship, plotting the course, upon which the ship lifts off the ground, and flies to its destination.  
After a short flight, the man arrives near the woods above which the Earth machine exploded. He tells his computer to scan the area for footprints that match the ones he found at the cemetery. Within seconds, the computer found a perfect match. He uses this technology to follow the footprints.

"What is all this?" Bibleman questions as he looks at the field before him.  
One burned down tent, several soldiers in brown uniforms, hacked to pieces.  
"Thou shalt not kill," Bibleman quotes. "The commandments seem to mean very little to that Fowl man."  
Bibleman raises his finger and his chin into the air as he speaks. "I can NOT allow this evil to fester any longer!"  
Doing so, he sees something fly over him. Or rather, it hovers for a moment over the woods, then flies off.  
What is this, he wonders. No, he thinks to himself. He does know what the thing is.  
"This machine," he mutters to himself. "Never seen before on God's Earth."  
He raises his voice this time. "It must be the Devil's work!"  
Bibleman takes his phone out of his pocket, and dials a number. He waits for an answer.  
"Captain?" he awaits a reply. "Tell your crusaders to continue searching the woods for Fowl and company. I got a job of my own to do."

At the SGC, Hammond's phone rings. He answers it immediately.  
"Hammond," he waits for the reply. "How do you know about Zordon? Is he... You're Mary Mason? … All right. Where are you?... A plane will be ready for you within the hour."  
He hangs up the phone, and calls another number.


	22. Chapter 22

**Unknown location:**

In a deep, underground base, a man is hiding. His clothes are dark, his gloves and boots are made of iron, and his face is only visible to those sitting opposite him. Which at this point is impossible, as opposite the man, are dozens of monitors. After scratching the head of his pet cat, the man presses a button on the console in front of him.  
On one of the screens, a man in his late seventies is seen.  
"Mr. President," the man says.  
"Professor Claw," the old man on the monitor, the President, says. "How's it hanging?"  
The man slams his fist on the table. "It's DOCTOR Claw."  
The President shrugs. "Doctor, professor. Tomato, tomato."  
Doctor Claw feels like correcting him, by letting him know that the second time he says "tomato", he's supposed to pronounce it as "tomah-to", but he realizes that if he corrects the President on every mistake he makes, he'll be sitting there until next month.  
"Any progress on your country?" Doctor Claw asks the President.  
"Yep," the President replies. "More and more of our heroes are joining the government, while others keep fighting."  
Doctor Claw grins. "So Earth's mightiest heroes are too busy fighting each other, they'll never realize what's really going on."  
"They're looking for a fight like a priest on a Saturday evening," the President laughs.  
That's a priest on a Sunday morning, Claw thinks to himself. Not only that, but the expression does not apply, as priests generally aren't looking for fights. On the one hand, Claw is amazed that he managed to help this man into the White House, but on the other, he may have underestimated this man's stupidity.  
The President looks at something off screen, then back to Claw. "I gotta make like a tree, and get out."  
The President switches off the monitor on his end.  
With this conversation at an end, Doctor Claw activates another monitor.  
Here, a bald man in designer suit shows up.  
"Mr. Luthor," Claw says. "Anything to report?  
"There is," Luthor replies. "Joey Drew Studios has finally agreed on the merger with Lex Entertainment."  
Claw nods, liking the sound of what he hears. "And as for the rights to Galaxy Quest?"  
Here, Luthor hesitates to answer. "Do not worry. Soon enough, I will own the entire entertainment industry."  
That was not an answer to his question, but Doctor Claw decides to leave it here. He switches off the monitor.  
Another monitor switches itself on. "Doctor Claw!"  
The thick German accent is one that Claw would recognize out of a thousand.  
"Red Skull," he replies, staying calm.  
"Our stockpile of necro-radiation has depleted," he says.  
"That is unfortunate," Doctor Claw replies. "But it matters little. We may not be able to raise the dead anymore, but the people can barely hold off the ones we have already resuscitated."  
As if the words just spoken were somehow comforting, Claw's cat meows happily.  
"Doctor Claw," a voice from a different monitor calls to him.  
"Please hold," Claw tells the Red Skull, after which he presses a button, and switches off that monitor.  
Turning to the one from which he heard the voice, Claw sees a man with black hair, with red streaks in them.  
"Mr. Osborn," he replies.  
"There's something strange going on," Osborn replies.  
"Define strange," Claw demands.  
"One of my infiltrators in the Air Force has just reported that two people, who match the description of wanted criminals, have been seen boarding a US Air Force plane," Osborn elaborates. "Which is a little odd. I thought people like S.H.O.C.K.E.R. are the type to take these people in. Why would the Air Force be interested in them?"  
"Maybe the military forces have become more desperate than President Tannen has made them out to be," Claw reasons.  
"Perhaps," Osborn replies. "Though according to its flight plan, the plane is on its way to Colorado. Which is where Stargate Command is located."  
Many people travel to Colorado, Claw thinks to himself. "Coincidence, I am sure."  
"Maybe," Osborn doesn't sound convinced. "But even stranger things have been happening. Hours earlier, a couple fitting the same description was seen boarding Fowl Force 3."  
"The plane that I had Voldemort crash?" Claw is beginning to see the connection.  
"And that's not all," Osborn says. "Rumors are spreading about an unidentified flying craft hovering over England."  
"Strange," Claw murmurs to himself. "Bibleman has reported seeing some odd flying machine in New Jersey."  
"Where Fowl's plane was taken down?" Osborn starts connecting some dots he hasn't connected before. "Seems like there's a lot more going on than we think."  
Doctor Claw taps his chin, thinking.  
"Should I send one of my S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to investigate?" Osborn suggests.  
"No," Doctor Claw growls. "You're too high profile. I'll send an operative myself."  
"Understood," Osborn says, before breaking the connection.

Driving down the roads of New Jersey, Bibleman is looking to the skies, hoping to find this satanic ship he saw hovering above him earlier. It has been hours since he saw it. This thing is either faster than he thought, or it's very good at hiding itself.  
"Satan may convince the ignorant that he doesn't exist," Bibleman mutters to himself. "But not me."  
A blinding light, surprising Bibleman, he has no choice but to stop his car.  
He looks in front of him, but to his astonishment, there is nothing there. He looks in his rear view mirrors. The light he saw came from behind him.  
He turns his head. He doesn't recognize the car. It's of a brand he's never seen before.  
Wait a minute, he thinks of himself. This thing has wings, and it's not on wheels, but on legs.  
"That's not a car," he realizes. "That's Satan's vessel!"  
Picking up a stick from the seat next to him, Bibleman leaves his car.

"All right," he barks at the vessel behind his car. "If you want to stop me from doing God's work, come out and do so!"  
Something whooshes. Bibleman can't place it, as he has never heard the sound before, but it sounded like something got activated.  
Two small explosions come from his left. Startled, he turns to look.  
His car has sunk on one side. Then the explosions he heard must have been his tires that got destroyed. Angry, Bibleman raises his stick, presses a button, and a yellow light bursts forth, stopping at blade-length. He just activated his lightsaber.  
From behind his car, a dark figure jumps up, makes a somersault, and lands in front of Bibleman.  
While he can't see the face of this dark figure clearly, he does notice that this man is carrying a lightsaber of his own. But instead of yellow, it is red.  
"All right, you serpent," Bibleman says. "You better give up your evil wa..."  
The dark figure swings his red blade, interrupting Bibleman's speech.  
In reflex, the man raises his saber.  
The two sabers hit, but the dark figure's saber is made of a stronger material. It cuts through Bibleman's saber, like it was paper.  
Astonished by what just happened, Bibleman doesn't think of doing anything when the dark figure thrusts his saber forward, cutting through his belly.  
Instead of deactivating the saber, the dark figure pulls his saber out of the man he just killed, thinking he'd do more damage this way.  
As Bibleman's body fell, his killer looks at the remains of the yellow lightsaber. He doesn't understand what purpose it possibly serves. It looks like a stick that glows, not something to go to battle with.  
No matter, he thinks to himself. With his pursuer now dead, he can resume his mission.


	23. Chapter 23

Flying across the sky, at last on their way to Creek Mountain, Chen and Mary are sitting next to each aboard the Air Force's C-5 airplane.  
Since the plane is made for practicality, and not for comfort, the engines' roars can be heard throughout the plane. Understandably, any form of communication between the husband and wife can only be made at a minimum capacity. Luckily for them, they never really needed words to express how they feel.  
Mary squirms a little closer to Chen. She takes hold of his hand. Chen, enjoying every one of her touches, lets her do this. But then he feels her tightening her grip on his hand.  
Under normal circumstances, he'd wonder why she'd hold this tight. But not this time, as he feels the same thing.  
Ever since they agreed to go on Zordon's little mission to save the universe, it's been one disaster after another.  
Mechanical insects destroy their home, a powerful police force separates them, flying broomsticks attack their transport vehicle, soldiers threatening their lives, and even the dead wouldn't leave them alone. It's as though everything in the universe is out to kill them.  
Precious moments such as these, where they can still touch each other, now more likely than ever, could be their last. Chen tightens his grip on her hand in return, after which he lays his head to rest on her lap.

Before long, the plane lands. The captain on board instructs the two passengers to go to the nearest SUV, which will then take them to their final destination. Anxious to finally get this whole adventure over with, the two hurry out of the plane, find the SUV, which they board. The driver doesn't even wait for them to say anything, nor does he ask. He is instructed to give a ride to two civilians, and that is exactly what he does.  
In this area of the state of Colorado, the sight of a military SUV driving is not unusual. But the sight of one that is escorting civilians is. Particularly for one who was instructed to wait at the airport all this time for their arrival. Once he sees them leave through the gates, he turns on the engine of his motorcycle, and chases after them.

The motorcyclist sees the SUV arrive at a mountain. There, the vehicle arrives at a fence, flashes his I.D. at a guard, who nods, opens the gate through the fence, allowing the SUV to drive through, and enter through a tunnel.  
Thinking at first to go in himself, the motorcyclist thinks better of it. A military compound like this, has guards that would shoot at anything that moves. Can he jump the fence? He looks up. There is barbed wire at the top. If he miscalculates the jump, he'd risk getting caught in the wire.  
No easy way in, then. Maybe he should think backwards. Military bases are usually made to keep the enemy out, but should the enemy be able to breach through, the soldiers inside should be able to escape easily. So if he finds that way out, he may have found his way in.  
He dismounts his motorcycle, and searches the surrounding forest.

The woods are not densely grown. Here and there, there are signs of trimming. Odd, the motorcyclist thinks. Who would spend their time trimming what should be wild plants?  
While he is pondering on that, he finds a sewer-lid. His first instinct is to shrug it off, but then he sees something peculiar about the lid. There is a number-pad attached to it, as if you need to type in a pass code before opening it. Since when do sewer-lids have those?  
He punches the pad, destroying it. With this, he could lift up the lid.  
One look inside, he finds a ladder. Good, he thinks. He jumps into the whole, grabs hold of the ladder, and climbs down.

Meanwhile, the dark robed figure, having followed the trail of from New Jersey to Colorado, is finally nearing his destination as well.  
As he is closing in, his computers pick something up. Other flying vessels are closing in on him. Had this warrior known he was flying over an American Air Force base, he would have taken this into account. Not that it matters, as he merely smirks at the news.  
He turns his machine around, after which he allows his computer to lock on to its targets.  
As that happens, he takes a good look at what is attacking him. They look like pods, with wings pointing down, and with rocket-thrusters at the back. They look like crude versions of the Goa'uld udajeets. Good, he thinks to himself. Udajeets were never a match for the Empire's TIE-fighters. How can cruder versions of them pose any problem?  
The crude machines fire missiles at the warrior.  
If it were in the dark man's character to cackle, he would have. Rays are faster, and more difficult to dodge. Missiles move too slowly. Not to mention they are too substantial. The dark pilot raises his hand, makes one flick with it, and the missiles turn around, back to where they came from.  
Without even firing one shot himself, the machines have destroyed themselves.  
Now, all he has to do is find one place to land his vessel, and find a way inside that mountain.


	24. Chapter 24

"Sir," Walter is informing Hammond of what he's hearing in his ear piece. "I'm receiving word from the surface. They're..."  
The base's alarm blares, interrupting him.  
"Sir!" Walter's tone changes this time. "We have an unscheduled off-world activation!"  
Hammond rubs his bald head. If even Walter can't keep up with what's going on, then he himself is most certainly too old for all this.  
Walter, true to his duty, places his hand on a palm-scanner.  
At the Stargate, several metallic plates converge together, like an iris on a camera, closing the Gate, just before the wormhole opens.  
"That's that," Hammond sighs, relieved. "Now, what were you telling me about the surface?"  
Barely has Walter opened his mouth, or he's interrupted again.  
An odd sound can be heard throughout the Gate room. It sounds like little things crashing on metal. Like it's raining.  
"Does it sound like it's raining in the Gate room to you?" Hammond asks Walter.  
"You're hearing it too, sir?" Walter seems relieved to hear he wasn't imagining it.  
"General Hammond!" Zordon's voice is heard from his TARDIS.  
Hammond turns to the metal box in the control room, just when Zordon continues. "Evacuate the base immediately!"  
A fraction of the word "why" later, and an explosion shakes the entire base at its foundations.  
Recovery, unfortunately, will have to wait, as everyone in the Gate and control rooms witnesses the result of the explosion. The iris that kept the Gate shut has exploded.  
Hammond hurries to the nearest emergency button, which he punches, while picking up the nearest phone.  
"Code 9!" he roars. "Stargate is breached! This is not a drill! Repeat, not a drill!"  
Hammond hangs up the phone, just in time to see what is coming through the Gate.  
A small army of humanoids are rushing in, growling and snarling, waving around their crescent-shaped blades. These people are tall, broad, wild and hairy, with a large forehead, shaped as though they have a ribcage of their own.  
"Aye-aye-aye-aye-aye!" Alpha just exited the TARDIS to see this for himself. "Klingons!"  
While he has no idea what a Klingon is, Hammond is not taking any chances. He barks his next order to Walter.  
"Seal off the Gate room!"  
Walter presses the right button for this, and all the room's blast-doors shut immediately.  
Hammond tries to catch his breath. "That should hold them for a while."  
"Not for long," Zordon tells him. "The Klingons are physically among the strongest people you'll ever meet. A blast-door will only do so much."  
A loud and heavy thud can be heard.  
This makes Hammond think a moment. "Are you saying they could breach a blast-door through brute strength alone?"  
"Indeed, I am," Zordon replies.

The off-world activation alarm can be heard throughout the entire base. Since Chen and Mary are still new to this, they had to be explained what this is about. But barely have they heard the explanation, and a different alarm starts blaring, followed by Hammond's voice.  
The look on their escorting airman changes at the sound of this alarm.  
"What's the matter?" Mary asks him. "What's a code 9?"  
The airman takes a quick look around, and finds himself a door. He opens it, and motions to the two to enter.  
"Get inside," he says. "I'll check what's going on."  
"It's an emergency," Chen says, while rubbing his knuckles. "Isn't it."  
"Just go into this room!" he shouts.  
"Chen, we better do as he says," Mary tells him. "For now."  
Even though he can't say no to his wife, he still growls at the idea of not getting involved in this.  
Still, they enter the room, and the airman shuts the door after them. The sound of his footsteps tell them that he's rushing down to wherever the emergency is.  
Chen scoffs. "First they draft me into fighting against the whole universe. And now that there is some action, they put me in a room."  
"We're here for bringing the doomsday weapon to Zordon," Mary tells him. "And it's their job to make sure we can."  
"And you think they can?" Chen questions. "Those people in brown uniforms we fought, they were trained soldiers as well. And yet it took the two of us, and an old friend of yours, to take care of them. What chances do you think these people will have against whatever is going on here?"  
Chen shakes his head. "I can't wait and see."  
He storms toward the door. Before he arrives, a loud thud sounds, and the door is blasted off its hinges. The force of which thrusts Chen backwards.  
"Chen!" Wanting to make sure her husband is all right, Mary rushes to look after him. "Are you all right!"  
A shadow creeps over them, which has the two turn their heads to the door.  
Upon the very threshold, in the light from the corridor, stands a man. He looks to be wearing an everyday biker suit, but his helmet has an odd shape. It has two large red eyes, like that of an insect, and has metallic antennae between those eyes. It's like he's trying to look like a grasshopper.  
While Mary is slowly reaching for her scalpel, the man points to the two.  
"You," he says, "can call me Hopper."  
Mary and Chen exchange a confused glance.  
"I am here to give you an offer," the man, Hopper, continues. "Either join the forces of S.H.O.C.K.E.R., and I will let you live."  
Mary scoffs. "And if we refuse, you'll kill us, right?"  
"People who refuse to join S.H.O.C.K.E.R. are unworthy of mercy," Hopper explains.  
"Look, Hopper," Mary rises up, charging toward him. "We didn't come here to join anyone in their petty squabbles. We came here to..."  
"Does this mean," Hopper interrupts, raising his voice to be heard over Mary's, "that you choose death?"  
"We do," Mary says. She raises her hand thrusting her scalpel toward Hopper.  
What she didn't anticipate, is that Hopper is faster than she is. He grabs hold of her wrist, just before her scalpel can poke one of his eyes.  
A loud scream nearly deafens Hopper, just when he feels a strong force tackle him, forcing him back into the corridor.

They hit the wall behind them. Trying to subdue his attacker, Hopper makes an uppercut. Chen jumps back to dodge. With his other fist, Hopper punches at Chen, who ducks down to dodge. Hopper's fist punches through the wall.  
Temporarily stunned by this, Chen almost doesn't see it when Hopper raises his leg to kick him. Chen rolls away, until he's reached the door, where Mary is still standing.  
"You better go check on Zordon," he tells her.  
Mary shakes her head. "I can't leave you here."  
"I've faced entire armies already," Chen reasons with her. "This is just one guy."  
Chen hears bits of debris falling, which tells him that Hopper has just pulled his fist free from the wall.  
"Go now!"  
Though Mary doesn't like leaving him alone, she realizes that there may be others inside the base that could use her medical attention. She nods, turns around and leaves.  
With her leaving, Chen tries grabbing Hopper by his scarf. But the latter is faster. He takes hold of Chen's lapels, and tosses him back in the room.

Following a yellow-and-black line on the floor, which to her knowledge usually leads to the main working room, Mary finds her way to the Gate room.  
As she closes in, she encounters some bodies. Some of them are of military people, with stab wounds. The others are of people that look like Worf, but dressed in caveman attire, who have bullet holes all over their bodies.  
Wait, she tells herself, no they're not. She kneels down at one of the bodies.  
This one military person has a large hole in his chest. Too big to be from one of these blades she finds lying around. In fact, upon closer inspection, it looks like the wound is burning. A bazooka did this? If yes, then it must have shot through him, and hit something else.  
Mary looks around her. There isn't any indication that any bazooka rocket destroyed anything in this corridor.  
Next to this body, there is one of the cavemen. This one is decapitated. It looks like a clean cut, except here, too, the wound is showing burn marks. A flaming sword?  
A noise comes from the other end of the corridor. A long, continuous noise. What could it possibly be? Mary thinks of investigating, but she knows she can't do this without any means of defending herself.  
She picks up the blade that the caveman carried with him. It is one she's never seen before. It's crescent-shaped, has two handles, as if it has to be held with both hands. She doesn't fully understand how this is supposed to be used, but it's better than carrying one of the soldiers' guns, and risking the possibility that they're empty.  
The closer Mary gets to the source of the sound, the louder and more clear it becomes. It's the sound of people growling and roaring, and guns being fired. These sounds are so loud, she can't even hear the clacking of her own shoes anymore. And if she can't hear them, then neither can they.  
It doesn't take long before she arrives at a door, where she sees a whole army of these cavemen, bottlenecking. These people are the source of the grunts and roars, while the gunfire comes from the other side of the door.  
The closer Mary gets to these people, the more she realizes none of them are paying attention to her. It's like they haven't even noticed her arrival.  
As tight a grip as she can hold, Mary grabs her blade, raises it, and cut one of these people in the back. With him down, she can start on the next.


	25. Chapter 25

Each of Hopper's punches is strong enough to punch through a wall, making Chen doubly careful not to be hit by any of his fists.  
When he sees an opening, Chen tries a round-house kick.  
Hopper, instead of being hit by Chen's leg, grabs hold of his leg, and so holding, tosses Chen across the room.  
Hitting the wall, hard, Chen feels a little disoriented.  
With him in that state, Hopper sees his opportunity. He launches himself into the air, stretches his right leg toward Chen, and lets gravity do the rest of the work.  
Looking around him, Chen finds a table on his right. He picks it up and hold it in front of him.  
Hopper's leg hits the table, bending it in two, but the two pieces close themselves over him like a sandwich.  
Both the surprise and the impact, breaks the momentum Hopper had, and he falls to the floor.  
Chen takes a deep breath, balls his one hand into a fist, make a high-pitched cry of rage, thrusts his fist forward, hitting Hopper in the chest.  
The impact is so strong and powerful, Hopper doesn't understand what's happening. First his breathing becomes next to impossible. His heart causes him pain, but he's not sure why. Then, here and there on his body, sparks start flying.  
That last bit surprises Chen particularly. Why would a man be sparking? Unless this wasn't a man, but a machine. But if he is a machine, and sparks start flying, that can only mean one thing.  
Chen rushes out of the room, runs away from there as fast as possible, just when something explodes in the room he just left.  
Chen doesn't know how to react to this. His Fist Of Fury never did anything like this. Earth was bad enough when he left, but now people can actually explode when they die? Frank wasn't joking when he said the planet only got worse, Chen thinks to himself.

Like his wife did, Chen follows the yellow-and-black line, leading him to the Gate room. On his way, he passes by the control room, where he can hear all sorts of thuds and moans being made. Is there a fight going on in there? He turns to the control room and enters.

Just in time, he can see Mary, swinging a blade at one of these Worf-like people. His chest splits open, letting blood gush out of his body. The man, with a look of both astonishment and grief, falls down.  
Mary, looking at the blade, smirks. "Never thought I'd get the hang of this thing."  
Even Chen doesn't know how to react to this. "You did all this?"  
She shakes her head. "No. The soldiers did most of the work. I just took advantage of their distraction."  
"That one," Chen points to the one she just killed, "didn't seem distracted."  
"He was by the fact that I'm a woman," she replies. "He thought he didn't need his full strength or attention."  
This time, Chen scoffs. He knew there was a reason why he married this woman.  
While thinking about that, he looks around him. Aside from these wild humanoids, there are bodies of several airmen. One of them in particular that sticks out among them is that of an older, bald man. Chen hopes this isn't that General Hammond he's heard so much about.  
"Are they gone?" Alpha's voice sounds.  
Both Mary and Chen turn their heads to the TARDIS in the room.  
There, Alpha's head can be seen, lurking between the TARDIS' doors.  
"Hiding in your box?" Chen asks.  
"Yes, Alpha," Mary answers him. "There's no need to build an Alpha Six just yet."  
Chen smiles with her at the quip. But then, her smile is dropped, at the same time as her jaw, releasing a deep gasp.  
Both Chen and Mary bow their heads down. What they see, they wish they didn't. A red stain is growing at the bottom of her shirt.  
Chen looks behind her, where he finds one of the savage men. He looks battered, but still strong enough to stand up, and hold a knife in Mary's back.  
"A woman who kills without honor, deserves to die without honor," he grumbles.  
Chen, working as fast as he is angry, kicks the savage man in the face, grabs him by his collar, and tosses him through the control room's window.  
The window shatters at the impact, while the man hits the blast-door behind it.  
Catching his breath from this again, Chen turns back to his wife.  
Mary, in the meantime, had already collapsed to the floor, keeping her hands at the spot where she is stabbed. Alpha is standing over her, proclaiming too many "ayes" this time.  
"Hold on, Mary!" he cries. "I better take you..."  
"No!" she interrupts him. "Moving me... now, will only... make it worse."  
Given the pauses in her sentence, it helps Chen realize just how serious it is.  
"Just..." Mary tries to say, "just give me a... med kit. I can help myself."  
"I've seen a hospital room in this base," Alpha says. "If I hurry, I can..."  
"Do it!" Chen screams at him, not wanting to waste any time.  
Alpha moans another "aye-aye-aye", as he leaves the control room.  
"Chen," Zordon's voice sounds. "We still have a mission to fulfill."  
"I'm not leaving my wife," Chen cries.  
"Don't worry about me," Mary tells him. "I'll be fine without you for five seconds."  
He feels an urge to wrap his arms around her, but fearing he may only exacerbate her wound, he stops himself.  
Mary notices the pain in his face, but smiles, telling him she understands.  
With this, Chen rises up and enters the TARDIS.  
"What do I do?" he asks Zordon.  
"Just press "enter" on the keyboard over there," Zordon explains. "The computer will do the rest."  
Chen nods, and presses enter.  
Outside, he hears something. He's not sure what. It sounds like a machine being set in motion. The sound reminds Chen of a rollercoaster. It lasts for a few seconds, then stops. Some other mechanism clicks, upon which the rollercoaster begins again.  
Chen shakes his head. He has a wife who needs his attention.

Leaving the TARDIS, he sees Mary, lying down, wincing a little, as she is keeping pressure on her wound.  
"What is going on out there?" she asks him.  
"Must be that Stargate everyone's been talking about," Chen replies.  
"I'd like to see it," she tells him.  
He smiles, and looks around him.  
Just as the mechanism clicks, and the rollercoaster begins again, Chen finds a big red button that says "BLAST DOOR". Thinking, hoping that is why there is a metal wall behind the window, he presses it.  
As he thought, the metal wall rises, revealing a large metal ring, which is spinning, while two lights are shining. This must be the Stargate. But that is not what caught his attention.  
In front of the Gate, stands a figure in black robes.  
Zordon, noticing Chen's look, asks him, "What's wrong."  
"There's someone in the room," he replies.  
Just then, the figure takes off his hood, revealing his face.  
"Describe him to me," Zordon tells him.  
Chen shakes his head, uncertain. "He either has black skin with red tattoos, or red skin with black tattoos. And horns on his head."  
This time, Zordon gasps. "Darth Maul. He must be sent to prevent us from using the Gate."  
Just as he spoke, this Darth Maul brings a stick out of his robe, and holds it in front of him. On one end of the stick, a red light bursts forth, stopping at blade-length. On the other end of the stick, the same thing happens.  
Chen is not sure what he's looking at, but he recognizes a weapon when he sees one.  
He turns to look at his wife. She can't even look back at him, as she winces in pain.  
Whoever, or whatever, this Darth Maul is, Chen cannot allow him near his wife.  
Just when the Stargate stops spinning, and a third light flashes on, Chen runs to the broken window, and jumps through.


	26. Chapter 26

This Darth Maul is wielding a weapon that needs to be held with two hands. The best defense against that is a weapon that needs to be wielded the same way.  
The Gate room is littered with bodies of these wild men, who carried such weapons. Chen picks up the first one he can find, holds it in front of him, and charges at Darth Maul.  
A grin appears on Maul's face. He makes one swing with his double lightsaber.  
It cuts through Chen's weapon.  
Looking at the broken blade, Chen's eyes widen in terror.  
Maul swings his saber to his opponent, who ducks down, swings the blade, which is now too short to reach Maul's legs.  
As Chen can hear a fourth light being lit up, he rolls backward.  
While the Gate starts spinning again, Chen picks up one of the airmen's bodies, holding it in front of him as a shield.  
Maul, knowing what Chen is trying to do, raises his own hand, points it toward the body, then makes a rising gesture.  
To Chen's surprise, the body he is holding starts levitating. Not wanting to be carried away, he lets the body go.  
Darth Maul, recognizing the opening, lowers his hand, and with it, the dead body drops.  
Just as the body falls on Chen's head, he can hear a fifth light being turned on.  
Grinning, Maul approaches Chen. As soon as he's close enough, he raises his lightsaber, pointing it down.  
Chen spins his body, kicking Darth Maul's legs, forcing him down.  
With him down, Chen pushes the body off him, and jumps up.  
Unfortunately, Darth Maul is just as quick.  
A sixth light flashes. Chen won't pretend to know much about Stargates, but what he does know is that seven of these light have to be turned on before the Gate activates. This means he has only one to go.  
But this thought distracts Chen, which Maul takes to his advantage. He lunges at Chen with his saber.  
Chen, spotting the light of the saber in the corner of his eye, dodges the attack.  
He quickly picks up one of the airmen's guns.  
Of course Maul's saber cuts through this.  
This time, it's Chen's turn to laugh. The heat of the lightsaber warms up the gunpowder in the bullets, firing them.  
Maul moves as fast as he can, but is not fast enough to dodge one of the bullets, which takes him down.  
A seventh light switches on. Chen is about to sigh in relief, but then the Stargate keeps spinning. He was wrong about it needed seven lights.  
No matter, he thinks to himself, shaking his head. Chen charges toward Darth Maul.  
He raises his flat hand, and thrusts it down to Darth Maul's skull.  
The latter only now recovers from this, holding his saber in front of him as a shield, which snaps in two with Chen's impact.  
Maul kicks Chen's face, just when the Stargate's eighth light is turned on.  
Chen takes a few steps back, just when Darth Maul jumps back up.  
The two stare each other down, while the Gate spins again.  
Both are astonished at how much they can take. Chen is surprised at how well Darth Maul can take a bullet wound, while Maul is surprised to see Chen's nose bleeding, and yet he just wipes it with his thumb, as if wiping away snot.  
At the next time the Gate stops spinning, Maul jumps up to make a somersault.  
Knowing that in moments like these, people cannot see what is going on around them, this is where Chen sees his chance.  
Just as the ninth light of the Gate lights up, Chen kicks the still spinning Darth Maul.  
His kick lands against Maul's side, just when the Gate starts rumbling.  
A large splash of water bursts out of the Gate, toward which Maul is now heading.  
The water engulfs him, leaving only his head within sight.  
Darth Maul is making a face with an odd expression. Either he's feeling pain, or embarrassment. Or both.  
The water reverts back to the Gate, forming the wormhole. But with it, Darth Maul's body has disappeared, leaving only his head behind, which drops to the floor.  
Chen laughs. He remembers being told that when a Stargate activates, you better keep a distance. Now he knows why.  
He turns his head to the control room. Realizing his wife is still there, he runs back.

Arriving at the control room, Chen finds Alpha, knelt down at Mary, medical kit in hand.  
"Chen," there is a moaning tone to Alpha's voice. "You made it. But I'm afraid we're too late."  
Too late? What does he mean?  
He looks at Mary. She is no longer wincing, but then, her entire body is motionless. The idea begins to dawn at Chen. He doesn't want it to. He keeps telling himself it's not true.  
But then he looks into her eyes. They are wide open, but not even looking at him. Or indeed, anywhere at all.  
He sinks down, fighting back tears as he grabs hold of her. Even though she should still be warm, he can feel the warmth of her body leaving her.  
"Chen," Zordon calls to him. "I am sorry about what happened to her."  
He ignores him.  
"We cannot save her now," Zordon continues. "But we can still prevent this from happening to others."  
Slowly, wanting to hold on to her for as long as he can, Chen loosens his grip on Mary. He looks her in the eyes one last time, before closing her eyelids. Forever.  
"Alpha, Chen," Zordon calls out again. "My sensors tell me the Vogons have arrived. We better do this now."  
Alpha hurries to the console. "Yes, Zordon. Right away."  
Once he arrived, he presses all the right buttons.

Bobba Fett looks at the Vogon leader, who is picking up his microphone. He does not understand what he hopes to accomplish. Telling them that they are now going to be demolished would be a waste of time, as they will be aware of it without being told. Even if Earthlings have to be told such things, what point would there be to it? They'll be dead soon, anyway.  
Suddenly, there is static on the screen inside his helmet. As he taps his helmet, he sees the same static appearing on all the screens in the room as well.

Doctor Claw is confused. How could anyone hack into his systems like this? Who is causing all this static? He tries pressing a few buttons, but none seem to do anything. Scratching his head, while thinking of what to do, the static clears up. What is now on all his screens, is a room. Judging from its somewhat spartan design, some of the bodies that are lying on the floor, and some of the computers in the background, he deduces it's a military room.

Darth Vader and Scorpius, who are looking at their holographic projector, are receiving the same image.  
"What is happening?" Vader asks.  
"I am not sure," Scorpius replies.  
"My lord, Vader," a Stormtrooper enters their room. "All of our screens, all of our projectors, they are all showing the same image."  
"All over the ship?" Vader asks him.  
"It's worse than that," the Stormtrooper says. "We haven't been able to reach anyone. We think it's on all the ships."  
"Zordon," Alpha says. "Everyone's screen should now be activated."  
"Chen, it's on you now," Zordon says.  
Still having trouble letting her go, Chen presses his head against hers.  
"Chen," Zordon repeats himself. "You have to inform the universe that we have the weapon. And tell the Vogons to step away if they don't want us to use it on them."  
While Zordon talks, Chen can only remember something that Mary said earlier, when they had lost their home and transport. They sacrificed so much, for a struggle that they ran away from. If you sacrifice everything to win a war, then what is left for you to fight for? He let go of her, and walks up to the spot in front of where the camera is placed.  
"Wait," Alpha tells him, after which he turns around, picks up a microphone, and heads to Chen, giving it to him.  
Chen takes the microphone with his left hand, but with his right hand, he reaches inside his kimono.  
From there, he pulls out an old piece of paper.  
"What is that?" Alpha asks. "Are those the plans to the weapon?"  
Chen ignores him. He unfolds the piece of paper, but does not look at it.  
Zordon, squinting his eyes to see, thinks the piece of paper is too small to be the plans to any sort of weapon. If anything, it's enough to have one sentence written down on it.  
That's when an eerie thought struck him. Zordon knows exactly what the doomsday weapon is.  
"Chen, don't!" he cries. "Don't read it!"  
Ignoring Zordon, Chen presses the button on his microphone, raises it to his mouth, holds up the piece of paper, and reads what it says.  
"_Wenn ist das Nunstuck git und Slotermeyer? Ja! ... Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!_"

**THE END**


End file.
